Slayer of the Slayer
by Midknightwalker
Summary: "Lucy Heartfilia, would you like to become the Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer?" Lucy is offered a chance to become a Dragon Slayer Slayer, a Slayer designed to kill Dragon Slayers, like Dragon Slayer are to dragons. Her Dragon Slayer isn't interested in the slaying part, but is experimenting, seeing if it works. Because if it does, they may have started a unlimited chain of Slayers.
1. Chapter 1

**So here it is. The first chapter to my 2nd fanfic! I'll be updating soon, probably really often coz it's the holidays.**

**Disclaimer: I am NOT Hiro Mashima. Nor do I want to be. It'll be awesome owning the best manga/anime in the world but all that work would be tiring. I am NOT a fan of work.**

"Lucy-san," Wendy tentatively called out. "What are you doing?"

Said mage was drooping in a corner, stomach rumbling, "I'm dying, Wendy," she moaned comically. "Dying..."

Before the Sky Maiden could question why, Lucy continued, "With all of _this _going on, I can't get a decent job."

By _this, _she meant the rush of people stampeding into the already crowded guild, to the request board, to Mirajane and back out the doors. It was the day before the S-Class exams, not that Lucy and Wendy knew since she'd never experienced them before, and _all _Fairy Tail mages were excited, some more visibly than most. Natsu and Gray had told her that the team was going to be temporarily disbanded, so she couldn't do very hard jobs. But there were no easy missions on the board, it was the time of the year where all clients knew jobs were to be completed, and because Fairy Tail was the best, sent the harder ones their way, and the easier ones to smaller guilds.

Lucy was totally broke and couldn't afford much food, let alone rent. Wendy was in a similar position, except had saved up a few hundred jewels the other day, and still could buy some things, but wanted to also go on a job.

Erza, who was sitting where Wendy was, smiled, "I'll go on one with you two then, Wendy can come too."

Lucy brightened, "Really?! Thanks!"

"Go get Wendy, I'll get the job," Erza promptly stood up and commanded all wizards huddled near the request board to move. They did so, immediately, scared of her. Erza grabbed a request, the one with the largest reward, 400 000 J, went to Mirajane to confirm it before moving back to her table where Carla, Wendy and Lucy were.

She handed it to Lucy who inspected it before nodding, "Defeat 30 Vulcans at Mt Hakobe. That might be a bit hard. I mean, Macao could only take down 19."

"Macao isn't an S-Class mage," Carla replied primly.

"True," Lucy admitted.

"Hurry up," Erza instructed imatiently. "The SE Cart is outside."

"So fast!"

* * *

"Ha! I came prepared this time," Lucy exclaimed, pulling her beanie tighter over her head, and slipping on a pair of mittens and fastening a jacket around her. She trudged behind her partners, eyeing the excessive snow piling up on the groud. They walked along in silence until Lucy heard a familiar -disturbing- cry, "Girlies!"

Suddenly she and her companions were surrounded by Vulcans, all giggling like perverts.

"Eek!" Wendy shrieked.

"~Ah, being cute is so troublesome," Lucy said vainly.

"I hate perverts," Erza said sternly. She requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armour, "Dance, my blades." Swords appeared, before forming a circle and spinning, "Circle Sword!"

The swords flew towards the Vulcans, stabbing some. 7 fell back, unconscious.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy blew a breath at the Vulcans, taking down 2.

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee, Leo!" Lucy chanted. Loke appeared, "How are you doing, milady?" He bowed and kissed her hand.

"Not now Loke," Lucy was serious, "Help me beat these Vulcans." She took out her whip and cracked it.

While all the fighting went on, Carla stood by the sideines. Her eyes glazed over.

* * *

"Carla?" Wendy shook her exceed. "Carla?"

"Yes?" she answered.

"We've done the job, let's go to the client," Lucy said.

She nodded, and followed them silently, recalling what she'd seen.

_An island with a tree protruding at the top._

_Cana wailing at the sky, tears cascading down her cheeks._

_Master Makarov lying on the ground, defeated._

_An airship hovering with dark clouds above it._

She remembered all of them, seeing every Fairy Tail mage. Some of them oddly older than they were now.

Weird thing was, she didn't recall seeing Lucy.

**I know it's short, but I'm updating soon. the shorter the chapters, the quicker the update.**

**If you enjoyed it, please review. Don't hesitate to tell me about the mistakes I may have made, I'm sure I have (commas, comma, everywhere...). I'm wanting to make this a romance fic, but I don't know what pairing should be the main one. The main character is Lucy, so it has to include her, but please review what guy you think will be good for her. ANY GUY except...**

**Natsu (don't hate on me, it's just too mainstream...), Gajeel (Levy's!) and Jellal (Erza's!)**

**Thank you!**

**Update #1: The vote is now closed. Result is on Chapter 8**


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy yawned and stretched. It had been a rather eventful day. She had seen all the S-Class Exam participants off at the docks** (Cana went with Pantherlily, and Carla left by herself hours later. The rest are the same). **So now she was alone, with no one around, with nothing to do.

"What's up?" Bisca asked.

"I'm bored," Lucy laid her head on a table.

"Not as fun without the others, huh?" Alzack sat down.

"Yeah," she said wistfully. "Ooh, I know! I'll train, so I can go next year! I'll be back in 3 days."

"Training? In 3 days?" Bisca asked. "No offense, but I don't think you'll improve very much."

"I won't but that's when the S-Class participants are coming back, right?" she questioned. At their nod she continued, "I want to show them my new power. See ya!"

She hopped off her chair and walked out the doors, making her way to East Magnolia Forest.

* * *

She walked tentatively into the forest, walking as quietly as she could because she didn't want to attract any attention from Gorians. Her hope was in vain because as soon as she stepped into the deeper part of forest, she was ambushed by two Gorians. Before she could reach her keys, they took them as well as her whip.

She was preparing to hit them with the force of 'Lucy Kick', but was stopped by the entrance of a man with black hair, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She couldn't help but notice a ring of keys on his waist.

In a few punches, he managed to get the forest Vulcans cowering in fear, running away.

"You okay?" he asked, helping her off the ground.

"Yeah," she answered. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia. Who are you?"

"Takumi," he said shortly. "These are yours, right?" he held up her keys.

"Yup," he threw them to her.

"You're a Celestial Spirit mage?" he questioned, interested.

"Yes," she nodded. "Are you a mage?"

"Yeah."

"What's your magic?"

"I'm a Dragon Slayer. The Spirit Dragon Slayer," he replied, smirking slightly at her reaction. Lucy's mouth was wide, as were her eyes, they were almost bugging out.

Once she'd regain the ability to speak, she pointed at the keyring, "Are they your Celestial Spirits?"

He laughed, "I'm a _Spirit Dragon Slayer,_ I don't _only _have Celestial Spirits. The Spirits of the Stars aren't really for me. I prefer to use the Chinese Spirits, but I have a few silver keys."

"How many keys do you have?" Lucy inquired, eager.

"All 12 of the Chinese Spirits, and 12 silver keys," Takumi checked his keyring.

She looked at his keys, and saw a whole bunch. Lucy stammered, "Um, would it be to much to ask if, uh, if you tra"-

"Trained you," he completed. "Let me see your keys."

Lucy gave hers to him to examine.

"9 gold keys and 4 silver keys. That's pretty good." He stopped and thought, "I'l l train you. In fact, I'll do better. Us Dragon Slayers have been working on a theory"-

"No way," she interrupted, "Not all Drag on Slayers." She couldn't imagine Natsu -or Gajeel- working on _anything_. Anything at all. Except for food.

Takumi grinned, "Fine, you caught me, it 's only me. Lucy Heartfilia, would you like to become a Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer?" He looked at her hopefully.

Lucy frowned, "What's that?"

**I leave the rest for the next chapter. Tell me if I've made any mistakes, my keyboard's acting up. Continue reviewing the pairings please. A s of now, the scores are...**

**Gray:2**

**Midnight:1**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiya! The voting is still going on, PROBABLY until Chapter 6. By the way, this isn't going to be following the canon line after the 7 year gap. As a thanks for all the people who reviewed, I will put in at least one moment for all the pairings. Probably not until after the 7 year skip, except maybe Takumi. Okay, it's settled now. It's actually a OC/Lucy story. TakumixLucy, or whatever couple name you want XD**

**Gray:5**

**Midnight:1**

**Rogue:1**

**Takumi:1**

**I didn't even think of TakumixLucy, so thank you Lovely lucy! I LOVE the idea!**

_Lucy Heartfilia, would you like to become a Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer?" He looked at her hopefully._

_Lucy frowned, "What's that?"_

Takumi sighed, "Simply put, it's a slayer used to kill Dragon Slayers. Get it?"

"Yeah, but why would you want me slay you?" she asked.

"I don't know, the dragons created Dragon Slayers, ask them," he was annoyed. "Do you want to?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed, "But I've only got 3 days."

"3 days!" Takumi shouted in disbelief, "What the hell?"

"I'm sorry," she apologised.

He shook his head, disappointed, "It's okay." Then he came up with an idea and smiled slyly, "What about we train in the Celestial Spirit World for 3 days?"

"You can do that?" Lucy questioned. "I thought humans couldn't go there."

"They can, only if they're wearing the World's clothes. I can go immediately, because I'm the Dragon Slayer, but you'll have to wear some. I'll get them." He disappeared before coming back, holding an outfit.

"Er, could you, like, go?" Lucy asked.

Takumi smirked, "Go on."

"No way pervert!" Lucy screamed. "GET THE HECK AWAY!" She 'Lucy Kicked' him.

Takumi rubbed his cheek, "You've got some kick." He circled her, "Doubt you have a good punch though."

"I dunno, I've never punched anybody," Lucy shrugged before looking at him cunningly, "Want me to try it out?"

"Not now, go change," he ordered.

"Go away," Lucy said.

Takumi rolled his eyes and huffed, walking behind a tree, "Hurry up."

Seconds later, she said, "You can come out now."

Takumi walked out from behind the tree and stared at Lucy. She was wearing a short purple dress, going down to mid-thigh and slightly ruffled at the hem. It sparkled in the light although it was hard to see in the forest's shade. Takumi gaped in surprise.

"What?" Lucy span in it. "I like it. Don't you?"

"I-I," Takumi stammered, and then recollected himself, "I think you look horrible."

"Do you want to test my punching theory?" Lucy inquired evilly.

"Meh, later," he said. "Let's go. Close your eyes."

"Why?" Lucy asked, doing so.

Takumi took a while to answer. "Coz you look weird with your eyes open," Takumi said. "You also look weird with your eye closed."

"Why you..." Lucy accidentally opened her eyes. "We're already here?"

"We got here the second you closed your eyes," Takumi smirked. "You're so gullible. Did you actually think closing your eyes would make a difference?"

She ignored the question, and countered his with another, "What's the difference between training in the Celestial Spirit World and on Earthland?"

"It increases your magic power, because of the environment" Takumi lied. It wasn't a full lie, it did increase magic power, just not from the environment, but from time. For example, if someone from the Human World trained in the Spirit World for 1 day straight, their magic power would increase as if they'd been training 3 months straight in the Human World. Takumi felt really guilty for taking her away for 9 months, but technically it was 3 days, at least that's what Takumi would say in his defense. Or he would pretend he had no idea.

"Princess!" A voice came from behind Lucy. She whipped around to see all her Celestial Spirits running up to her. Even Aquarius, but Lucy suspected it was because Scorpio was too.

"You guys!" She exclaimed, too lazy to say all their names. There were 13, and she didn't have the time. She knelt down to catch a running Plue in her arms and hugged him lovingly.

Her Spirits were scrambling for her attention, calling out, being noisy, almost like Fairy Tail.

Takumi cleared his throat. All was quiet, then slowly, one by one, her spirits fell on one knee and bowed, heads low.

Takumi nodded, dismissing them.

"Wait, Virgo, you know what's going on, right?" he asked, voice full of authority.

"O-of course, as Lucy-sama's Celestial Spirit, I do keep tabs on Lucy-sama," she said with respect. Lucy blinked at Virgo not calling her 'Princess.'

"Good. Inform the others," he instructed. The spirit hurried away.

"I feel like I should bow to you," Lucy snickered.

"Don't laugh," he said. "They look up to me."

"I don't think they 'look up' to you. You're being rude to them," Lucy glared. "You don't treat your spirits bad, do you?"

"What, no!" Takumi frowned, "Stop jumping to conclusions. They really do look up to me. I told them to stop a couple of times but they refused. I live up to their expectations. Personally, I'm much looser around my spirits."

"You? Loose?" Lucy said incredulously. "No. Way."

"Shut up," he grinned playfully. "Let's get started on actually training. Throw me your best punch."

Lucy recalled seeing Gray, Erza and Natsu punch (each other) before and how they did it. Thinking about that, she was shocked to realise that she'd seen almost everyone in the guild throw a punch. Master, Gildarts, Mirajane, Elfman, Freed, Loke, Pantherlily, even Happy! She steeled herself before swinging her fist to Takumi's face. He caught it easily.

"Not bad..." He muttered. "Okay, important thing, you can get a bigger impact if you tilt your fist down and try to get your first 2 knuckles to hit. Then it won't hurt as much..."

* * *

"Lucy?"

Lucy had practised for half an hour **(46 hours in Earthland-approx. 2 days) **until she heard that voice.

"Loke?" she asked. "What are you"-

Before she could finish, he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, "I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?"

"The S-Class participants, their partners, the S-Class mages and Master have sunk with Tenroujima," he said solemnly.

"How could that have happened, it's only been 45 minutes!" Lucy exclaimed.

"No, it's been 2 days. What are you doing up here anywa"- he cut himself off. His eyes found Takumi.

"You..."

**Please review, and if you haven't yet, vote! ANY GUY except Natsu, Jellal and Gajeel! Also, if you're having trouble voting for just ONE, you can vote for two, and I'll count them both.**

**THANKS ****Also, people were asking where I got the name, so I'll tell ya. No, not from Takumi Usui from Kaichou wa Maid-sama! Well, partly. It's also from Takumi Ando in Strobe Edge. I love the name, so I used it XD**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! The votes are currently...**

**Gray:6**

**Takumi:6**

**Midnight:3**

**Rogue:2**

**Sting:2**

**I must say, I wasn't sure if you guys would like Takumi, I thought him up randomly, but you guys seem to like him :)**

**Celestial Day 1**

_"You..."_

Loke advanced towards Takumi, "Why'd you bring her here without telling her the time differences?" He paused, "Why did you bring her here in the first place?"

"Good to see you too, Leo," Takumi said sarcastically.

"I don't have time for your jokes," Loke said venomously.

Takumi copied Loke's glare, "Go ask Virgo."

"I want to hear it from you. Not telling her the time differences is like kidnapping." Loke didn't move his eyes from Takumi, "And if you kidnpped her, my contract allows me to hurt you."

"What?" Lucy asked innocently, "What's going on? You're joking, right, Loke? Fairy Tail is fine, right? Everyone's okay?"

"No, Lucy. They've disappeared," Loke broke his staring contest with Takumi to look at her dejectedly. "Even with all their magic, they couldn't do anything against Acnologia, the black dragon."

"Dragon?" Takumi said, eyes wide.

"Zeref's dragon," Loke nodded, almost looking like he would cry. "I'm sorry, Lucy."

Lucy went into a state of shock and froze.

"Lucy?" Takumi brought her to her senses.

"No..." Lucy collapsed onto her knees. "No!" she yelled. "They can't be gone." Tears welled up in her eyes and she wiped them away, looking at Loke, "You're wrong. There is _no _way Fairy Tail would be defeated by a dragon. Not them, not my nakama." She started sobbing, remembering all the moments with them. "The-They're still alive," she choked on her words. "They have to be." Her nakama, the strongest people she knew. They had Master, Gildarts 3 dragon slayers, a knight, Gray, a demon, a beast, 3 talking cats... How could they have lost against some measly dragon? Lucy shook her head, "They're alive. Definitely alive."

"I'm not good with crying girls," Takumi whispered to Loke, their earlier anger forgotten. "You're going to have to help her."

"Then you're going to tell her about the time difference," Loke shot back and walked toward Lucy.

"Lucy, I never said they weren't alive," he knelt beside her. "They've just disappeared."

"So they're definitely alive, right?"

Loke didn't want to lie to her. But he didn't want her to start crying again either, "Of course, princess."

She chuckled bitterly, "You have no idea when to stop flirting, do you?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah, here's a new key," he gave her the gold key.

She held it and looked at it in amazement, "Capricorn."

"Long story short, he wants to be your spirit," he shrugged. "Look, I've got to go. See ya later," he winked and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Takumi asked.

Loke shot him a glare, "To see _Virgo_."

When he'd left, Lucy shakingly stood up and walked to Takumi. She crossed her arms, "So what's this about time differences."

She seemed really angry, and Takumi remembered about the strength in her kicks. Takumi laughed guiltily, "Ha ha...1 day here is...Ha ha...3 months on Earthland...Ha ha..."

"3 months!" Lucy shrieked. "Takumi!"

"Ha ha..." he chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry. Do you still want me to train you?"

Lucy sighed, "It doesn't matter. My nakama have..." She couldn't finish. "Yes, I do. Anything else I have to learn?"

Takumi exhaled in relief, "Thanks. So you've perfected punches, and you're already good with kicks, so...I think you should actually try using Spirit." Takumi held his palm out and radiating from it was a dark blue translucent hue. "When you call out Celestial Spirits, you channel magic through your arm into your key. For this, just channel your magic into your arm out your fingertips. Try it."

Unlike the punching, Lucy found this extremely hard to pick up. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and she squeezed her eyes shut and exerted more magic.

Takumi's called out, 'Lucy, you don't need that much magic."

Lucy opened her eyes, "Really? Okay then." She tried it again but to no avail. "Takumi, what do Spirit Slayers eat?"

"I'll tell you when you manage to get the tiniest bit of Spirit on your fingers," Takumi mocked her. "Just picture it there."

"You're so mean," Lucy tried it again, failing.

He smirked, "It's called motivation."

After a couple more tries, Lucy managed to get it in her palm for a couple of seconds before it disappeared. She demanded, "Tell me."

"We don't."

"What?"

"Our connections with others are stronger so we fight harder if they're in any real danger?" It came out more like a question because of the look Lucy gave Takumi. "What? That's Spirit."

Lucy narrowed her eyes, "That is _unbelievable_."

Takumi grinned, "_Believe_ it."

**If you haven't yet, please vote, it'd probably close by the 6th chapter. And don't worry if the guy has nothing to do with the plot now, I'll make it work. Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi again! Votes are...**

**Takumi:9**

**Gray:6**

**Midnight:3**

**Rogue:2**

**Sting:2**

**2 Celestial days later, Celestial Day 3**

"Break day!" Takumi announced.

"What's that?" Lucy looked at him weirdly.

"Idiot," Takumi poked her in the head. "Can't you tell by the name?"

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes. "But I thought you were the tough kind of teacher."

"You thought wrong."

Lucy huffed angrily, "Fine, what are we doing?"

"I don't know, where'd you want to go?"

She bit her lip thoughtfully, "...Earthland."

"Why?" Takumi asked. "Fairy Tail?"

"No," Lucy said quietly, "call me selfish but I don't want to go back. They'd be questioning why I went for 9 months and by now, I think they assumed I'd escaped to go to Tenrou Island with the others. If I go back they'll lose hope." She beamed, "Besides, I haven't finished training yet."

Takumi looked at her symapthetically, "Fine. Close your eyes."

She did so.

"I CAN'T BELIIEVE YOU FELL FOR THAT AGAIN!" He laughed.

"Takumi!" she screamed. "Be serious!

He wiped invisible tears from his eyes and chuckled, "It was pretty funny though, you gotta admit."

"Never," she denied.

"Fine, you won't admit it, but it was," he grinned. Takumi coughed and changed the subject, "What do you want to do?"

"Take a job," she bounced. "Let's go to the Magic Council."

"Let's NOT go to the Magic Council."

"Why not?"

"They're," he stopped to find a suitable word, "creepy."

Lucy snickered, "Takumi, the great Spirit Dragon Slayer, is scared of the _Magic Council?_"

"I'm not scared...I'll show you."

* * *

Before they entered the building, Takumi gave Lucy his jacket and instructed her to keep the hood down. Then he wwalked straight to a desk, returnin some hellos.

"Takumi-kun, what can I do for you?" The frog-like creature asked him.

"Can I get a short job, not far from here, with a lot of pay please?" he asked politely.

"Of course!" she replied. "I can arrange a meeting with Gran Doma-sama for you too."

"That won't be necess-"

"Nonsense!" she waved her hand. "Here he is now."

Behind the two was a large man, Gran Doma, the Chairman of the Magic Council. Lucy, who had never seen him before, but guessed he was a strict person because he had always sent all the complaints to Fairy Tail, was surprised when he boomed, "Takumi, boy, long time no see! How are you?"

"Good, Gran-san, how are you?"

"The same." Finally realising Lucy was there, he inquired gruffly, "Who is this?"

"My apprentice. She did not want to come here today, as she apparently has a 'bad hair day'," Takumi smirked.

"Ahhh," he nodded in understanding. He lifted his left hand to shake, "Any friend of Takumi's is a friend of mine."

_Thank gosh it's not the right hand, _Lucy thought in relief at not showing her mark on her right.

"What did you come here for, Takumi?" Gran asked.

"I needed a request that is near here, pays a lot and pretty short. Do you have one?" he asked.

"Well, yes. Defeat a beast living on the outskirts of Era, terrorising the villagers. It pays 10 000 000 J."

"Mmm," Takumi hummed thoughtfully. Lucy stomped on his foot, and he hissed, "We'll take it."

"Take care," Gran said, walking away.

"Wait," Takumi stopped him. "Any news on Fairy Tail?"

"The area where the majority of them disappeared is suspicious, according to Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale. Both of them are currently looking into it. As for the rest, they can't pay their bills and may be forced to disband. Fairy Tail have moved to the edge of town. They may have caused a ruckus before, but they did not deserve this. They were like family."

Lucy let out a strangled noise.

"Thank you for your time," Takumi rushed. "See you!"

They ran outside.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Lucy bounced.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded vigorously, "I get 50% of the money, right?"

"Don't spend it all at once."

"I'm going to give most of it to Fairy Tail," she decided. "After I buy a cape and glove."

* * *

Running toward the request location, they discussed their plan.

"We'll both use our Spirits," Takumi decided. "I still haven't seen you work with them."

"Okay then," she agreed.

* * *

A very angry beast was in front of them. It was yellow but had black horns. When Lucy looked up, she immediately thought of one, she would've laughed except it was only a few metres away. How Lucy missed it she didn't know, she was looking down at her keys for 2 seconds, and then it was there. And how it gave her a shock, she actually squealed. Squealed. Takumi was going to mock her so much afterwards.

She looked around her and saw a lake.

In a second 2 keys were in her hand, "Open, the Gate of the Scorpion and Water Bearer! Scorpio! Aquarius!"

An angry mermaid appeared, "How dare you interrupt my date wit-" She looked to her left, "Scorpio!" She looked at Lucy, "I'll forgive you this time."

"We are!"

"Open! Gate of the snake!" Takumi held his key in front of the beast, "Venim!"

A purple snake shot out from the key and latched itself onto the beast, plunging its fangs into the flesh of the beast's neck, paralyzing it with venom.

Taking the oppurtunity, Scorpio used Sand Buster and Aquarius launched a wave at the beast.

Seeing both her spirits attack the beast, Lucy wanted to try something too. Takumi, knowing what she was about to do, simply raised his eyebrows in interest.

She inhaled,

"Celestial Dragon Slayer Slayer's Roar!"

Blue Spirit whirled out of her mouth, slamming the beast down.

"Huh, not bad," Takumi observed. "Do you even need me to train you?"

Lucy opened her mouth to comment but Takumi intervened, "Rhetorical question, you're not getting rid of me that fast."

* * *

After Lucy and Takumi had gotten the reward, Lucy's cape and glove, they went to Fairy Tail.

Takumi had only planned accompanying Lucy to drop the money at their doorway.

He wasn't expecting what happened next.

**Vote, vote, vote! Only 1 chapter left!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Votes are right now...**

**Takumi:10**

**Gray:8**

**Midnight:3**

**Rogue:3**

**Sting:3**

Lucy leaned over to place the package on the step, but was pushed over by 5 men, "Move over, girlie."

She got up, _I wonder what they're doing here?_

She fastened her cloak around her, pulling down the hood and put on the fingerless glove on her right hand before peeking behind the door.

"Where's our money?" they demanded roughly.

"Give us a f-few more days," Wakaba stuttered. Lucy blinked. The Wakaba she knew wasn't like that, he was a gross pervert.

"We don't have a few days!" one kicked a table across the room.

"T-Then you'll have to deal with it," Macao stammered.

The leader sneered, "Is that how you speak to Twilight Ogre, the best guild in Magnolia?" He grabbed Romeo, "I might have to teach you guys a lesson." He slapped Romeo across the face, causing the 7 year old to start bawling.

Macao yelled, "I'm sorry! Let my son go! Take me in his place!"

In a second, Lucy had hit the dude with an uppercut and taken Romeo. She handed him back to Macao.

The she and Takumi, who had worn his jacket, beat Twilight Ogre up.

* * *

"Thank you," Laki thanked afterward. Takumi and Lucy downed their glasses of water.

Romeo ran up to them and asked brightly, "Who are you?"

Lucy's eyes widened and she remembered what she was there for. Takumi produced the package from his jacket and gave it to her. She handed it to them.

And then she fled, Takumi following her in shock.

* * *

"You yelped, and you ran away!" Takumi yelled, laughing. They'd returned to the Spirit World and Lucy was currently pissed.

"Shut up Takumi!" Lucy shouted.

He grinned in response.

"So what are we going to do now?" Lucy asked. "2 Celestial minutes have passed."

"I dunno," he shrugged.

"Can we take a break from break day?" she inquired. "How many multiple summonings can you do?"

"6 at a time," he answered casually.

"6?!" she shrieked. "Teach me, teach me!"

"Admit that it was hilarious when you closed your eyes, yelped and fleeing," he selected.

"I don't tell lies."

"It was a little bit funny. Just a little bit."

"It would've been," she allowed. "If I were in any other position."

"I'll permit that," he nodded. "Victory sure is nice."

"Slight victory," she corrected. "It's hardly there."

He smirked, "Of course."

* * *

"So I just meditate for hours and hours?" Lucy asked.

"Yup," Takumi grinned. "I'll be going though, Capricorn will be overseeing your training. Bye." He dashed off.

"Wait, what?" she screamed.

"Takumi-sama is gone. Meh will help you," Capricorn said solemnly.

"Hey, Capricorn, what did happen on that island?" Lucy inquired curiously.

"Meh will explain to the best of meh ability," he replied. Capricorn proceeded to say what had happened on the island.

Lucy listened attentively with her eyes closed and wielded her magic.

* * *

"I'm back," Takumi stated and sat down imitating Lucy's position, crossing his legs and taking deep breaths.

"Do you still want meh to oversee her?" Capricorn asked.

"If you don't mind," Takumi replied.

* * *

"Takumi-sama," Capricorn caught his attention.

"Yes?"

"I think Lucy-sama is asleep."

Takumi opened one eye and saw Lucy on the floor , curled up and softly snoring.

He smirked and then his eyes softened.

He sighed, standing up, "Capricorn, can you pick her up?"

**_LAST CHANCE! VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!_**


	7. Chapter 7

**VOTE CLOSED. The result is...**

******Takumi:13**

******Gray:12**

**Midnight:4**

**Rogue:4**

**Sting:3**

**So... TAKUMI!**

Lucy woke up with a start, "Wha-" she stopped and looked around, "Oh yeah, I fell asleep yesterday. Takumi's going to kill me."

"That I will," he answered, walking in. "Here." He threw something into her lap.

She picked up the object, "Keys?" There were 2 silver keys, the chisel and the compass.

"Caelum and Pyxis," he replied. "Got them at a store in town."

"Thanks!"

"Make a contract with them, and then we're training."

* * *

**24 days later, Celestial day 28 (HUGE gap, I know. I couldn't really detail their training.)**

"Break day!" Takumi announced.

"Yes!" Lucy pumped her fist. "We're doing a job again, right? Then I need to get more keys."

"You've got plenty," Takumi replied.

"Kumi," she whined. "Let's do an S-class mission."

"I still don't approve of nickname," he grumbled. "It stinks."

"According to you, Taku isn't any good either."

"Then call me 'Takumi' like normal people do," he answered.

"I'm your slayer, I'm calling you 'Kumi'," she stated stubbornly. "Anyway, let's go!"

"Fine. Close your eyes."

"No going to work after the last 4 times," she grinned. "Nice try."

"Darn."

* * *

"15 000 000 Jewel," Lucy stretched. "All mine. Shopping!"

"I am _not _coming with you," Takumi shook his head. "I made that mistake last time."

"Strictly work material," she offered. "Keys, books and stuff."

"For you, book shopping has the potential to be worse than clothe shopping," he said.

"Work-related books," she corrected. "And you only have to carry half the bags."

"Deal."

* * *

"If I knew 'half the bags' was 6 thick books, _on each hand, _I wouldn't have agreed," Takumi complained.

"Shut up Takumi," Lucy deadpanned. Her reaction changed, "3 keys!" Then she moaned, "I can't believe they costed 50 000 Jewel. _Each_."

They both voiced their grievances at overpriced objects until Lucy found another shop.

"No," Takumi froze. "No."

Lucy walked in.

"What did I do to deserve this?" he asked a random male passerby.

"I don't know, man, but I pity you," the guy replied.

Takumi nodded in thanks.

* * *

Lucy and Takumi walked in silence, even though Takumi's arms ached from all the bags.

"Have you heard that rumor about Fairy Tail being back?" Lucy eavesdropped on 2 males' conversation.

She ran off, toward Fairy Tail's new building.

"Lucy!" Takumi ran after her, lugging all the bags, complaints forgotten.

Adrenaline was pumping in her legs as she ran across town. Trees, people, buildings, everything looked like a blur. It wasn't fast enough.

"Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's Spirit Elbow!" she used as a boost.

"Oof!" she bumped into someone. Two someones to be specific."Sorry," she apologised, hastily standing up.

"Are you okay?" A black-haired boy asked.

"Are you running from somebody?" The blonde asked.

"No," Lucy panted. "Sorry, thanks, gotta go, bye!"

She sprinted away.

Takumi arrived at the scene seconds later, "Did you see a blonde this tall," he gestured to his neck, "And running?"

"We saw someone who was that tall and running but she had a cloak on, could that be her?" the blonde inquired.

Takumi nodded.

The black-haired one pointed the way Lucy left.

"Thanks," Takumi said and ran after her.

"Should we have really told him where she went, Rogue?" The blonde asked.

"I don't know, Sting."

* * *

"Fairy Tail," Takumi breathed.

Lucy was at the entrance, staring, unsure if she should go in. They were partying like old times, but suddenly everyone was silent.

"What did you say?" Laki asked Levy.

"I said, 'Where's Lucy?'"

Everyone's feelings dropped, "She disappeared 7 years ago after saying she'd leave for 3 days to train," Bisca responded. "We don't know where she is."

After that, everyone tried their best to be carefree, but something was holding them back.

"You should go," Takumi was at Lucy's shoulder.

"How am I supposed to explain my 7 year disappearance?" she asked. "They won't forgive me for abandoning them."

"Say you were kidnapped," he answered. "They're your family anyway, they won't judge. Say your kidnappers put a, I don't know, aging spell on you." Takumi turned to leave, but Lucy grabbed onto his shoulder.

"Join Fairy Tail," she suggested. "You could train me some more and... I know you don't like talking about it, but other dragon slayers are here that are looking for their dragons too. Please."

He saw her face, serious, for once. He sighed, "I'll think about it, okay? No promises."

Lucy knew that was a yes in his language, "Victory!"

"I still haven't said yes!"

"Hoods?" Alzack looked at them. "Twilight Ogre aren't here today. Thanks for taking the time though."

Behind him, Macao explained to the disappearants who the 'Hoods' were and why they were so important.

Gray tilted his head in an attempt to look at the female Hood's face.

_She looks familiar._


	8. Chapter 8

_Is that...Lucy?_

Gray ran up and hugged her. "Where'd you go?"

The guild looked at Gray in shock, why did he just run up and hug the Hood? Natsu was the second one to realise it was her, followed by Happy, then Erza, and Levy. By now, all of the guild had clustered around her, asking questions.

"Where'd you go?"

She was silent. She couldn't say she was kidnapped, she appeared as the Hood every year after the Tenrou incident to give money and beat up Twilight Ogre. She answered, "I had to take jobs to pay off Fairy tail's debts, right? I spent most of my time doing jobs."

Macao and Wakaba looked guilty.

"Why did you disguise yourself?"

"I didn't want you guys to feel guilty at the fact I was paying off the bills." She looked at Macao and Wakaba.

"Why'd you come back?"

She brightened, "because you guys are my nakama!"

Smiles were on every wizard's face. Takumi stepped back to avoid all the action. It made him uncomfortable, the fact that he was the only one that didn't miss her.

"Still as antisocial as always," Lucy grinned at him.

"Who's he?" The guild asked.

"Takumi," he introduced himself. "Spirit Dragon Slayer."

"Ehhh?" They shrieked. "Lucy, what are you doing with him?"

"Leave her alone," Makarov said wisely. "She's tired, obviously. Lucy and Takumi, please come into my office."

They did.

"Now, child. Tell me the truth."

Lucy spilled the truth about her and Takumi, and Master promised not to tell.

When they left, he smiled and murmured, "That child should've gone to the S-Class Trials."

His moment crumbled when Takumi walked back in. "Could I join?" He specified, "Th guild, I mean."

"Of course," Makarov wasn't shocked, just a bit disappointed that his moment was interrupted. This was going to happen eventually anyway.

"Thank you sir."

"No," Makarov denied. "You will call me Master, or Gramps. Never 'sir'. It makes me sound old. Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

Outside the guild, Natsu was helping by sweeping. "Happy!" he shouted, "It's your turn!"

Said Exceed was sleeping on a tree stump, slightly drooling and snoring.

"Happy!"

That caught his attention, he looked wildly around. He spotted Natsu, "Oh, it's just you Natsu."

"Natsu," Max, Vjeeter, Nab and Warren arrived. "You guys haven't aged in 7 years so," Max said, "Your magic level wouldn't have changed either. Fight me!"

Lucy who was watching in the shadows murmured to herself, "Isn't that something Natsu would usually say?"

Takumi chuckled, "Seems so."

Lucy whirled around, "When did you get here?"

"Two seconds ago."

Lucy spotted a Fairy Tail mark on his collarbone. "You're a Fairy Tail mage now?"

"Yeah."

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu threw away the broom and enveloped himself in fire.

"What kind of chant is that?" Takumi muttered.

"Don't you have a chant?" Lucy asked. "Like 'I'm going to Spirit you away'?"

"No. That's horrible," he crinkled his nose.

Lucy pouted and continued watching the fight.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist," Natsu attacked Max.

Max jumped back and hit Natsu with Sandstorm, much to the latter's surprise. Natsu fell back.

"What?" Max inquired. "Did you think we were only siting down for 7 years? We've been training too."

Natsu got back up and hit Max with rapid punches, Max dodging at each one.

"Sand Rebellion," the hit sent Natsu into the air, sand flying everywhere. Natsu used his magic to blow it away.

Lucy, Takumi, Vjeeter, Warren and Nab were amazed at how much Max was overpowering Natsu.

"Alright, time to get serious!" Natsu grinned in satisfaction and took a breath. "Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

The breath headed straight toward Max, but missed and destroyed everything around it.

Max panted in fear, eyes wide, "I give up. That would've killed me."

Natsu laughed, "Who's next?"

Vjeeter, Nab and Warren shrank back in fear.

"I will," Lucy stepped out from the shadows, took off her cape and tossed it away. She smirked, "Come at me."

Natsu looked at her in shock. And then, promptly fell on his face.

"Aww," Lucy looked at the fallen figure. "And I sounded so cool." She looked around, where the guild had crowded. "Takumi and I'll take on any 5 of the people who were on Tenrou."

"Whoa, wait, I never agreed," Takumi looked at her in disbelief. She shot him a look. "Fine then."

"I'm up for it," Gray stepped up, smiling.

"If Gray-sama is, Juvia is too," Juvia agreed.

"Let's see how you do," Cana raised a brow.

"Gihi," Gajeel leered.

"Umm, I want to try," Levy volunteered.

"Okay," Lucy said. "You guys want to discuss tactics?"

"Juvia wants to discuss with Gray-sama!"

'I'll take that as a 'yes' then."

Lucy whispered to Takumi, "I'm just going to use my keys."

He shrugged, "Eh, whatever. I'm going all-out."

"Just don't tell them about _that_."

"Sure."

"Let's get started already," Gajeel said impatiently.

"Fine." In a flash Lucy was in front of him. She smirked and punched him in the face.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray attacked her from behind. 6 lances emerged from his hands. Lucy spun around and threw her keys at the lances. They smashed through the lances, effectively breaking them and embedded themselves into the earth, one in a puddle.

"Open! Gates of the Lion, Golden Bull, Ram, Archer, Water Bearer and Scorpion! Loke, Taurus, Aries, Saggitarius, Aquarius and Scorpio!"

The spirits arose from the keys.

"Okay, Loke and Aries on Gray, Aquarius and Scorpio on Juvia and Taurus and Sagittarius on Cana," she directed. "Please."

* * *

**Taurus and Sagittarius vs Cana**

Cana smirked, "So this is what I'm up against. A cow and a man dressed up as a horse. Great."

"Don't underestimate us, moshi moshi," Sagittarius said, firing arrows at her, "It can be a lethal mistake."

Cana blocked each arrow with a card, "We'll see about that." She thew cards at Sagittarius, "Fire Explosion!" Sagittarius was blown back by the force of the spell and was knocked down. Cana looked at him, "Well, would ya look at that, I didn't underestimate you."

Taurus jumped up from behind her, "I'd think about that again." Cana's eyes were as big as plates, she'd forgotten about him.

Taurus swung his axe down.

* * *

**Aquarius and Scorpio vs Juvia**

"Sand Spear!"

"Juvia's body is water, she can't get hurt physically," Juvia said in a monotone.

Aquarius thought before smirking, "I have your weakness."

"Huh?"

Aquarius created a whirlpool around Juvia, spinning her around. Scorpio injected some sand into it. Juvia spun in that swirl, sand rubbing roughly against her skin.

Once Aquarius was sure Juvia had enough, she stopped the vortex. Juvia stepped out and walked in circles before collapsing on the floor.

* * *

**Loke and Aries vs Gray**

"I'm sorry Gray," Loke apologised, getting ready to attack.

"It's alright," Gray grinned, getting excited.

"I-I'm sorry," Aries trembled. "Wool Bomb!"

"Ice Make: Shield!" The shield stopped the spell.

"O Regulus, grant me strength..." Loke began. "Lion Brilliance!"

In Gray's blindness, Aries hit him.

* * *

"You guys can go back now," Lucy smiled sweetly. "Thank you." The spirits disappeared, all saying goodbye.

"Creepy smile," Takumi commented.

"Shut up."

"Enough talk," Gajeel growled. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" he aimed it at Lucy. Takumi covered her and deflected the roar with one of his own.

"Takumi, I'll take Gajeel. Levy knows me too well."

Takumi glared at her and muttered, "Don't boss me around." But he did as she asked anyway.

"Gajeel..." Lucy murmured. "You might actually make me take out Caelum."

Caelum appeared in his default form.

"Caelum, please do a fusion between your Sword Form, Speed Form and Flight Form."

Caelum beeped and turned into his Sword Form, except with wings. Lucy grabbed onto the handle and it propelled her 2 feet above the ground. In 5 seconds, she had slashed Gajeel across the chest.

She stood up and Caelum dissipated. She looked over at the 5 bodies sprawled out on the ground.

"Whoops," she winced. "I overdid it."

**BADASS LUCY! Not really, I stink at writing fight scenes. By the way, I made up everything about Caelum. I'm not sure he can fuse his forms together, and the speed form was fictional too.**


	9. Chapter 9

"Cana!" Gildarts called out. "My poor daughter!" He looked at Lucy, "Good job, but next time don't hurt her too bad."

He hugged Cana, squeezing her. She snapped into consciousness, "Gildarts," She managed to say, "Get...off...me!" she pushed him away.

"But my poor daughter is hurt," he frowned childishly.

Lucy looked at the two's antics fondly, "I should go see my father..." she trailed. She nodded and headed off.

* * *

"Remind me," Lucy began, "Why are you coming too?"

Takumi walked next to her, "Because... I don't know."

"You're a genius," she said dryly.

"I know."

* * *

Lucy walked up to Love & Lucy's receptionist's desk, "Excuse me, may I see Jude Heartfilia?"

"Um," the receptionist looked uncomfortable. "Are you his daughter?"

"Yes."

"There's no easy way to say this but," the receptionist looked away.

Takumi noticed the receptionist fidgeting and alarm crossed his features, he said quickly, "Lucy! Let's g-"

"Jude Heartfilia passed away a month ago," the receptionist said quietly. "It was a big loss."

Lucy froze.

Takumi eyed her sympathetically and took her hand. He spoke to the receptionist, "Thank you for your time." He pulled Lucy out of the guild.

"Lucy? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her trance, 'Uh, yeah. You should go back to Fairy Tail, I'm going to go somewhere."

"I'm coming with you," Takumi said stubbornly.

"Fine," Lucy said. "I've got to stop at a florist's."

* * *

"Thanks for buying the flowers," Lucy said quietly to Takumi.

"It's okay," he replied.

She stood in front of her parents' grave and put the flowers down. She stood there silently, Takumi watching her from behind.

After minutes of just staring at the headstones, Lucy turned around.

"Let's go," she said to Takumi, walking out the gates.

* * *

Lucy and Takumi walked down the pathway.

"Oh my god, my dad is, like, so annoying," A teenage female passerby scoffed. "And he, like, smells real bad."

"Yeah, I know right, mine too. He's just gross, you know, like, seriously," her friend agreed.

Takumi was ticked off. He gritted his teeth but still ignored the girls.

"I wish he'd just die, you know?"

Takumi snapped.

"Excuse me," he stormed up to them, "Can you please read the air? I-"

"Takumi, don't," Lucy said softly.

Takumi stared at her before giving in. He glared at the girls, "Don't take your father for granted."

The girls raised a brow rudely.

"What a weird guy."

"I know, right? Like, read the air? How can I do that?"

Lucy and Takumi rolled their eyes and walked along the pathway.

"Takumi," Lucy caught his attention. "Why aren't I crying?"

"Huh?"

"I should be crying!" she exclaimed, "My father passed away! What's wrong with me?"

"Luce," he sighed, using his nickname for her, "The amount of tears has nothing to do with the level of sadness one is experiencing."

She stared at her feet, and then at Takumi, "Thanks Kumi."

And for once, he didn't complain about the _ridiculous _nickname.

* * *

Takumi yawned, "By the way, I'm crashing at your place."

"I haven't paid rent for 7 years. I don't think I have a place anymore."

* * *

"What do you mean someone has been paying rent for 7 years?" Lucy looked at the Landlady in disbelief. Then she eyed Takumi questioningly.

He gave her a look, "Just because I paid for the flowers, doesn't mean I'm suddenly a genie."

"Go inside," the lady instructed. "They're on the bed."

Lucy walked in and looked around, amazed, _it hasn't been touched since I left._

She looked on the beds, there were a pile of presents, and 2 letters. Lucy opened one envelope,

_To my loved daughter, Lucy,_

_Happy Birthday!  
Since my previous letter, I have found wealth and happiness. According to your guild, you have disappeared. However, I know you're not truly gone and believe you'll come back one day. I have paid your rent, and as your whereabouts are currently unknown, I left your birthday presents here. Come back soon, my dear child.  
__ I love you,_

_Your loving father, Jude Heartfilia_

Lucy stifled a sob with her hand.

"This one's about upcoming business deals," Takumi informed her, reading the other letter. "Luce?"

She let out a choked noise, "My dad... loved me."

"Of course, he's your father," Takumi smiled gently.

She sobbed, "I didn't... I didn't get to see him after that Acalypha incident."

Takumi had no idea what she was talking about. He knew all about the Heartfilia's, they were a railway station, but knew nothing about the personal history. But he still calmed her when she started crying hysterically.

She stopped eventually, wiping away her tears and blushing in front of Takumi, embarrassed.

Deciding to help lessen the embarrassment, he gestured to the packages on the bed, "Do you want help opening these presents?"

* * *

The next day, Lucy and Takumi went to the guild. They arrived, just when Makarov was cursing Gildarts for leaving.

_Master, as well as everyone in the guild,  
I__'m sorry, but I'm not cut out to be a 'master.'  
I have left on a job, and should be back in 2 months.  
__However, I will take the opportunity to make two changes as guild master  
__The first: Accept Laxus as a member again._

Laxus, who was coincidentally there, blinked and his team shouting in happiness. Makarov frowned.

_The second: Appoint Makarov Dreyar as the 6th Master_

He promptly fainted.

_I have left on a mission, but please give Cana this card in case she's ever in trouble._

Mirajane gave the card to Cana but she ripped it in half. "I don't want it. Stupid old man."

"Letter!" Laki walked in. She opened it. "Oh, it's about the Grand Magic Games."

"What's that?"

Romeo explained to Natsu about the Grand Magic Games.

"We are not doing it this year," Macao shook his head.

-"reward is 30 million Jewel," Romeo finished.

"30 million Jewel!?" Makarov woke up. "We're doing it!"

"Master, our magic is 7 years behind," Mirajane told him.

"Train for the next 3 months!" he shouted. "Form your training teams! I want that 30 mill-We are to win!"

The members were a mess. All the mages were shouting and running around. But finally, the teams were formed.

Team 1: Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy, Wendy, Carla, Levy, Juvia, Jet and Droy.

Team 2: Laxus, Evergreen, Bixlow and Freed

Team 3: Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna and Cana

Team 4: Gajeel and Pantherlily

Team 5: Lucy and Takumi

"Guess it's just us again," Lucy said to Takumi.

"Guess so."

* * *

"We're going to the beach," Erza told Mirajane and Lucy.

Mirajane nodded, "We're hiking at the mountains, and training there."

Lucy drooped her head on the table, "Takumi and I haven't even planned anything yet."

"Speaking of Takumi," Miajane had a glint in her eye. "What's up with him and you?" She looked over at where Takumi was, talking with Gray.

"He's just a person I met on one of my missions." Lucy waved her hands in front of her, "Don't get any ideas, Mira."

"Mira has a good reason," Erza said. "We don't know him well, and he's 'apparently' been your partner for 7 years."

"He's a good friend," Lucy smiled.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked Takumi when all the teams split up.

"Magic Council," was his short reply.

"Another job?" she grimaced.

"We're going on a bunch of S-Class quests, one after the other, " Takumi said. "To work on your stamina."

She glared at him and said facetiously, "What fun!"

"Good to know you agree."

* * *

"The beach!" Natsu and Gray shouted.

"Eating contests!"

"Swimming contests!"

"Tanning contests!"

Erza rolled her eyes and continued slashing at trees.

* * *

"Our magic power has risen considerably today. If we do this for the next 3 months, we'll surely catch up," Erza told the mages.

They nodded determinedly.

**Crime Sorciere isn't going to appear. SORRY! I ship Jerza, so they'll probably appear at sometime, just not right now. Obviously because Jellal isn't there, there will be a lot of changes to the GMG. Until next time, BYE!**


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm so glad that's over," Lucy mumbled, exhausted. She and Takumi had just completed a mission, one which had asked them to take down a small dark guild. Much to Lucy's annoyance, small now apparently meant 50 members, all trying to attack her. That was only half of them. And then there was the master, who was a total chicken, but had still managed to tire her out.

"Me too," Takumi agreed. "Now we can go on another one!"

She sighed, "I need a break."

"There's only two left." He added, "For today."

"We've already done 8 requests!" she cried. "Isn't there a law against doing 10 consecutive jobs?"

Takumi shrugged, "The Magic Cou"-

-"cil doesn't care, you're a suck-up blah, blah," she groaned. "Can we have a break?"

"No, you have to work on your stamina," he instructed. "I resent that suck-up remark, by the way."

* * *

"Gray! Fight me!" Natsu proposed.

"Natsu," Erza said dangerously. "Did you just say 'fight'?"

"Uh," he shivered. "It'll help us train."

Erza nodded, "Good idea."

When she left, Natsu exhaled, "At least she didn't find out." He straightened,"GRAY!"

* * *

"I could collapse right now," Lucy informed Takumi.

"Here," Takumi held out his hand. Translucent blue -Spirit- danced on his palm.

Lucy sighed, expecting more work, "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Eat it."

Lucy stared at him as if he was stupid, "I thought you said Spirit Slayers don't eat anything?"

"Except for other people's spirit," he grew impatient. "Just take it already."

"Do I have to chew it or...?" she trailed off.

"Just swallow it," he rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry if I'm articulate," she muttered. She cupped the Spirit in her hands and took a sip.

"Oh my gosh, this is really good!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Because I knew you'd react like this," he smirked. "Now give me some of yours."

She gave him what he wanted and he gulped it down.

"It's like an edible heaven," Lucy moaned in content, drinking some more.

Takumi chuckled.

* * *

Lucy was _very_ annoyed when she heard Takumi's 'lesson of stamina' would last a whole month. Furious, even.

"10 jobs each day, nonstop except for lunch," he said.

She was speechless but Takumi saw the anger in her eyes.

"I'll buy you a key if you don't say anything rude."

"2."

"Deal."

* * *

Training continued for 3 months, and during that time Takumi bought more than _just_ 2 keys for Lucy.

"It's like blackmail," he complained.

Lucy skipped happily, "Nope, you agreed to. My spirits are so nice!"

They were walking (Lucy was skipping) back to Fairy Tail. It was the end of training, to Lucy's happiness, and she couldn't wait to see Levy again, to talk about all the books she convinced Takumi to buy for her. "Thanks Kumi!"

"Don't call me that."

* * *

The reunion was like all Fairy Tail events, loud. Lucy and Levy got together to discuss books, Jet and Droy looking protective. Takumi and Gray had a talk, before Natsu started a fight with Gray. Pantherlily and Erza were fighting; Macao, Wakaba and Cana had a drinking contest and Gildarts and Makarov were talking.

All of a sudden, Makarov jumped onto the second floor railing and coughed to get attention. "Attention!" They all stopped to look at him. "The participants are..."

"Gildarts Clive!"

"Natsu Dragneel!"

"Gray Fullbuster!"

"Erza Scarlet!"

"Elfman Strauss!"

The mages clapped, but most were disappointed. Takumi ruffled Lucy's hair, "Don't worry Lucy, you can see Master has something planned." Takumi had observed that Makarov was grinning too widely.

"He's definitely got something up his sleeve," Lucy agreed.

* * *

**In Crocus**

"So tired," Takumi groaned, dragging himself off the train.

Lucy giggled behind a hand, "You get motion sickness too?"

"All Dragon Slayers do," he managed. "Gajeel's lucky that Pantherlily flew him here."

"Oh yeah, why don't you have an exceed?" Lucy asked curiously.

"I've never needed one," he shrugged. "Would be cool to have one though."

Lucy raised a brow before smiling suspiciously.

* * *

**Skip to preliminaries (Sorry!)**

Team Fairy Tail ran up the bridges, Gildarts leading the way.

"This way!" He led them through a series of twists and turns until they reached a stop.

"Uh, Gildarts, where are we?" Natsu asked.

Gildarts blinked, "I have no flipping idea."

They facepalmed, "Great."

* * *

A darting figure ran across them, stealing their map.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted, chasing after it and knocking him down, taking back their map. "Wait a minute... There's two!"

Their eyes glinted dangerously.

* * *

"Yeah!" Natsu yelled. "Are we first?"

Mato said curtly, "No. You're last."

"What!?"

* * *

"It's time for the introductions," Chapati announced. "In 8th place..."

"FAIRY TAIL! 'The Crash' Gildarts Clive, 'Titania' Erza Scarlet, 'Salamander' Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster and 'Beast Arm' Elfman Stauss!"

Boos echoed around the stadium.

"In 7th place... QUATRO CERBERUS! War Cry, Nobarly, Yaeger, Semmes and Rocker!

The audience yelled out the guild's catchphrase.

"In 6th place... MERMAID HEEL! Kagura Mikzuchi, Arania Web, Beth Vanderwood, Risely Law and a Cloaked person! "

Wolf whistles were created by men.

"In 5th place...BLUE PEGASUS! Ren Akatuki, Eve Tearm, Hibiki Laytis, Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki and Rabbit!"

Screams pierced everyone's ears as some girls fainted.

"In 4th place...LAMIA SCALE! Lyon Vastia, 'Iron Rock' Jura Neekis, Chelia Blendy, Toby Horhorta and Yuka Suzuki!"

Regular cheering resounded the arena.

"In 3rd place... RAVEN TAIL!"

Everyone was silent.

Makarov screamed, "Aren't they a dark guild?"

Yajima was calm, "No, they are not. Raven Tail is a legal guild now."

"In 2nd place...FAIRY TAIL B?!"

Shouts of accusation were thrown their way.

"That's illegal!"

"Cheaters!"

Like before, Yajima had the answer, "It is okay, they have registered it correctly."

Chapati continued announcing, "Laxus Dreyar! Mirajane Srauss! Lucy Heartfilia! Takumi! Gajeel Redfox!"

"And finally... In first place... SABERTOOTH! Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney, Yukino Arugia, Rufus Lohr, Orga Nanagear!"

"Wait," Lucy elbowed Takumi, "Aren't they the two people I bumped into ages ago?"

"Yeah," Takumi answered. Unknown to them, Sting and Rogue were having a similar conversation about them cross the arena.

* * *

"It's time for the first event, Hidden!"

Mato told the teams the rules. "Teams, choose one person to participate!"

One by one, a person from each team stepped out. When every team had selected a person, Mato announced,

"From Sabertooth, Rufus Lohr! Eve Tearm from Blue Pegasus! Lyon Vastia representing Lamia Scale! Mermaid Heel's competitor is Beth Vanderwood! Nullpuding for Raven Tail! Yaeger from Quatro Cerberus! From Fairy Tail A, Gray Fullbuster! Fairy Tail B, Mirajane Strauss!"

The town appeared in the arena.

"Begin!"

**I didn't like this chapter, and don't worry, I won't write the rest of the events like the preliminaries, I just wanted to write battle scenes quick.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Ideas for this chapter were given to me by AshK1980. Thanks!**

Gray walked through the streets of the fake city, trying to see who was real and who wasn't. Snow fell on the ground, and the temperature dropped dramatically. Gray walked normally, but resisted the urge to rip off his clothes. He spotted Yaeger shivering, without a shirt on, mostly frozen.

"Ice Make: Ice Hammer!" Gray hit Yaeger with a giant spiked hammer. Yaeger shouted in pain before disappearing to another part of the town.

"You!" Beth yelled, triumphant. "Carrot Missile!" A number of carrots flew toward Gray who managed to dodge them successfully.

Lyon ran up towards them, "Ice Make: Eagle!" The many birds attacked her, making her go somewhere else.

"Two points in a row," Lyon smirked. "Just my luck. Ice Make"-

"Evil Explosion!" Mirajane said monotonously from atop of a building. The dark orb shot to Lyon and hit and he vanished.

"Thanks," Gray called out. Mirajane nodded, still in her Satan Soul Take-over, and walked away.

* * *

Gray yelled, Nullpuding attacking him from behind. He turned around, punching him in the process.

"Hehehe," Nullpuding chuckled. "That was a copy."

That was the last thing he saw before he was transported to the other side of the city.

* * *

Mirajane emerged from an alleyway, a deep frown on her face. "Nullpuding," she said angrily, gaining his attention, "Soul Extinction!"

A huge blast of dark magic hit Nullpuding.

Mirajane smirked, "That's what you get for messing with Fairy Tail."

She walked away.

* * *

Rufus chuckled, "From up here, I can see everybody. Memory-Make: A night of Falling Stars!"

The yellow starbeams hit everybody except for Mirajane, who was flying quickly and evaded it, and Gray who noticed at last second and used a shield

"That's the end of Hidden!" Chapati announced.

**Scores**

**Team Sabertooth/Rufus :6pt, 1st**

**Team Fairy Tail B/Mirajane :2pt, 2nd**

**Team Raven Tail/Nullpuding :0pt, 3rd**

**Team Lamia Scale/Lyon :0pt, 3rd**

**Team Blue Pegasus/Eve :-1pt, 5th**

**Team Fairy Tail A/Gray :-1pt, 5th**

**Team Mermaid Heel/Beth :-2pt, 7th**

**Team Quatro Cerberus/Yaeger :-2pt, 7th**

* * *

"There will be a small break between the Event and Battle part each day, as to sort out the Battle pairs," Yajima announced.

Lucy was talking to Mirajane, "You know, we should really have matching clothes."

"I've got that ready," Mirajane sparkled. "Here," she handed each particpant clothes. She was already wearing a black and white dress.

"White and black?" Takumi held up a pair of black jeans and a white T-shirt.

"Yup, now go change," she ordered.

* * *

Lucy walked to Mirajane and twirled, showing her how good she looked in a black skirt and a white striped sleeveless top, "How do I look?"

"Like a zebra," Takumi deadpanned.

"I wasn't asking you," she shot back.

"I think you look great?" Mirajane said, trying to help.

"Thanks Mira."

"Battle part!" Chapati shouted in to the microphone. "First Battle! Fairy Tail B's Lucy Heartfilia vs Raven Tail's Flare Corona!"

"Luce," Takumi told her seriously, "I know you aren't going to use _that _yet, but if you're going to get hurt badly, _use it. _Don't act stupid for your pride or whatever. Ok?"

She nodded, "I don't think she could though." Lucy leered, "After all, our 'stamina' lessons were oh-so-helpful."

He huffed, offended, "Go out already."

* * *

Lucy was almost jumping with adrenaline. Flare taunted her, "Blonde..."

Lucy's face hardened.

"Start!"

Flare lurched her hair and it turned into a wolf. Lucy pointed a key at the hair, "Open! The Gate of The Crab! Cancer!"

Cancer appeared and launched himself at the hair, snipping at it. The wolf fell into pieces. Cancer posed, "Ebi."

"You cut my hair!" Flare shrieked.

"Open! The Gate of The Greater Dog! Canis Major!" A big dog appeared at Lucy's side, "Castle, attack her."

Castle, the dog, leapt and bit her leg. Flare screamed in pain before hissing at Lucy, "You little bitch..."

She threw her head to the ground and Lucy looked wildly around, _where's it going to come up? _She spotted a tendril near little Asuka. "Asu"-

She was cut off by Flare who'd wrapped her hair around her mouth and lifted her up into the air.

"Don't say a word or the girl gets hurt," she threatened.

Lucy nodded.

"Hair Whip!" she kept beating Lucy who stayed silent, holding all the pain.

Takumi gripped on to the railing separating the arena and the audience's stands, _Why isn't she using it?_

Lucy looked at him desperately before looking at Asuka, signalling to him.

"I think you've had enough," Flare laughed crazily. Her hair turned into the Raven Tail mark.

"No!" Lucy screamed.

She whipped her, "I said not to talk. Where do you want me to brand this?" She thought before saying, "Over your Fairy Tail mark?!"

Flare lowered her brand closer to Lucy's hand. Takumi's eyes widened as he raced down seats trying to get to Asuka. He grabbed onto the lock of hair and covered his hand in Spirit, breaking the hair off and throwing it on the ground.

Lucy grinned and secretly used Spirit to release herself from her restraints. She landed on the ground.

All of a sudden, smoke and dust rose up in the arena, making it hard for the crowd to see what was going on. The dust died down and Lucy grinned, and then her eyes lost focus.

_"Survey the Heaven, Open the Heaven..." _she chanted, exerting magical power.  
_"All the stars, far and wide..._  
_Show me thy appearance..._  
_With such shine._  
_O Tetrabiblos... _  
_I am the ruler of the stars..._  
_Aspect became complete..._  
_Open thy malevolent gate._  
_O 88 Stars of the heaven... _  
_Shine!_  
_**Urano Metria!**"_

Bright light flooded through the arena and everyone struggled to see. The audience all suspected to see Flare down, but that was the opposite. A shocked Flare was looking at nothing.

Lucy had disappeared.

* * *

The audience was whispering, wondering where she went.

Flare looked up at her teammate thankfully, "Obra..."

Abruptly, a battle cry interrupted all of them.

A missing Lucy fell from the sky, her hand holding a silver key.

She landed on Flare knocking her down with the weight, "You...Gemini...How dare you do that to Gemini!" Lucy kicked Flare.

Flare winced and cowered.

"Open. Gate of the Chisel. Caelum," Lucy's voice had lost any of the excitement she had earlier. "Caelum, Cannon form."

Caelum turned into what Lucy requested and shot a green beam at Flare.

"Flare's down!" Mato proclaimed. "10 points to Fairy Tail B!"

* * *

Lucy was sitting in Fairy Tail's infirmary.

"What are you still here? Porlyusica was done with you ages ago," Takumi walked in. "All the battles are done already. Gildarts tied with Jura."

Lucy exhaled, "What do Raven Tail want?" She was pissed at Flare.

"I don't know," Takumi sat down next to her. "Don't think about it too much, you won against her anyway."

"Something's up with them." Lucy said fiercely

Takumi agreed, nodding. "Fairy Tail's at the bar, want to go?"

"Yeah."

* * *

"Cana!" Gildarts yelled, "I'll shout you!"

"Yes!" Cana shouted. "Oi, Bartender, give me another barrel!"

A man walked in, and silence overcame the room as he said, "I challenge you to a drinking contest."

"Dude, you don't want to do that," Macao told him, "She's a beast."

"I'm Bacchus," he introduced. "And my challenge still stands."

Cana shrugged, "Whatever, Gildarts _is _shouting me. I agree."

* * *

Takumi and Lucy came to the bar just as Natsu was trying out barrel-surfing.

"Oh my god, idiots," Takumi groaned.

"Gray's trying it too," Lucy informed.

"And Erza," Levy put in. "Good job today, by the way."

"Thanks."

* * *

Hours later, Cana was passed out drunk. Bacchus laughed, "She was pretty good, I'm getting tipsy. I'll take this as a reward," he took her bra and left.

Gildarts growled. The only reason he'd held back so farwas because clashing of guilds was banned during the Grand Magic Games.

"Excuse me," the bartender said nervously. "You need to pay 10 000 000 Jewels."

Gildarts sobbed, "And now I'm broke."

* * *

"What do you mean you're going on a job?" Makarov shouted at a piece of paper. "Gildarts!" Said man had left behind a note saying he had to go on a mission to pay off his (Cana's) debts.

Makarov sighed, "Lisanna, you're in Fairy Tail A."

"Yes!" she cheered. She received congratulations from everyone.

Lucy traced Gemini's key with her finger.

"Gemini's okay, go have fun" Takumi chastised. "That's what this guild's all about, right?"

"Yeah," she said. "But all of their magic is drained, soesn't it hurt for a Celestial Spirit when that happens? I mean, because they're magic in a way."

"Well...yeah," he admitted. "But they're healing in the Spirit Realm now so you should enjoy yourself. They don't blame you for that happening."

She put on a smile, "Ok then, if you say so."

"I do," he smiled.

"Wanna try barrel-surfing?"

"No way in hell."

**I'm not sure if everyone understood this but when the dudt kicked up, Lucy swapped with Gemini because it would use less magic calling them out than actually casting the spell. She disappeared so everyone in the crowd would think she did it herself (like Takumi said, her pride is very important to her). But thn Gemini's magic depleted and she got angry.**

**Does anyone want me to do the Ryuuzetsu Land bit?**


	12. Chapter 12

**There aren't really any changes to this chapter and the real one (except for some KumixLuce moments) so I skipped quite a bit. I'M EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER (or the one after that, I'm not sure)**

**Anyway, from now on, I might be updating 1 chapter every 2 days, instead of everyday because of school, sorry.**

Lucy was running around Crocus the next day, trying to find Takumi.

"Kumi!" She yelled, sprinting. She'd woke up, to find him gone, and Laxus and Mirajane had denied seeing him. No note, or anything. She was seriously worried, if he'd suddenly quit being in the Grand Magic Games, Fairy Tail woldn't win it, not that they weren't already strong, just that... She couldn't come up with the rest of her thoughts.

She collided with a figure and fell backwards.

She stood up, "Sorry!" Lucy looked at the person she'd smashed into, "Oh, it's you again!"

It was the famous Sting Eucliffe, quite annoyed that someone had knocked into him, blinked. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, cloaked girl you knocked into couple months back?"

"You were her?" he questioned. "To think that she was a fairy..."

"I'm still here you know," she raised a brow.

"You weren't being chased that day, right?" he asked. "A guy came to us after that asking where you were."

"Oh, no," she shook her head. "He's a friend. Speaking of that, have you seen him?"

"No," he answered. "Unfortunately."

She sighed, "Thanks anyway." Lucy waved and left.

"She's got a strong magical aura..." Sting said thoughtfully and walked away. "Too bad she's fairy."

* * *

"Takumi!" Lucy ran towards him, "Why the heck did you go without saying anything. To go to a...bookstore?"

"...Here," he thrust a book into her hands. "You said you wanted this, right?"

Lucy read the title, "Mental Spirit Summoning? I've wanted this since half a year ago! Well, technically 3 months and a day but still. Did you come here just to get this for me?"

"What? No," he scoffed. "I...had to get something too."

"Yeah, sure."

"It's true," he protested. "I'd reserved a book 2 days ago."

"I would believe it but 2 days ago we were on a train for 15 hours," Lucy smirked.

He glared at her, "Shut up."

"Thanks Kumi," she hugged the book.

"Kumi," he huffed, but he wasn't entirely annoyed.

* * *

"Hello everyone! Mages or not!" Mato shouted. "Let's get started with the battle part! Chariot! Selected participants are to race on top of interconnecting chariots without falling. If you do, you're immediately out. For this challenge, the king has decided the competitors."

_"Natsu Dragneel!"_

When Natsu heard the event, then his name, he gagged.

_"Gajeel Redfox!"_

"I'm gonna beat that Salamander!" Gajeel shouted.

"This isn't going to end well," Takumi whispered to Lucy.

_"Risley Law!"_

_"Kurohebi!"_

"Raven Tail..." Lucy muttered, looking over at them. To her surprise, she say Flare hurt much worse than yesterday. "What the hell happened?" she exclaimed.

Takumi saw where Lucy was looking, "I think her master beat her."

Lucy gaped.

_"Bacchus!"_

Cana narrowed her eyes before wincing, "Argh, hangover."

_"Yuka Suzuki!"_

"Eyebrows dude!" Natsu and Gray yelled.

_"Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki!"_

_"Sting Eucliffe!"_

"Oh, I bumped into him today," Lucy informed Takumi.

"Why?" Takumi asked immediately. "What for?"

"I _bumped into him_. It was an accident," Lucy rose a brow. "What, jealous?"

"I saw Rogue Cheney," Takumi avoided the subject. "On my way to the bookshop."

"Did you guys talk?"

"A little bit, yeah."

"What about?" she was curious.

"He knows I'm a Dragon Slayer now," he told her. "And he told me that he's the Shadow Dragon Slayer and his friend _Sting Eucliffe _is the White Dragon Slayer."

"Are you friends with."

"Stay away from him, Luce," Takumi warned. "He's a tiger."

"But fairies can overcome anything."

* * *

"Why are you even trying?" Sting sneered.

"It's for our comrades," Natsu said. "For seven years... Always... They were waiting for us... No matter how tough it was, no matter how sad; even if they were made fools of, they endured and endured... and protected the guild. For our comrades, we'll show you... The proof that Fairy Tail has kept going! And that's why we'll keep moving forward!"

Natsu stumbled over the finish line, Gajeel after him.

Out of respect, and admiring them, the crowd began to cheer.

"Fairy Tail A and B are over! Sting drops out! The event part is finished!"

* * *

"That was so cool!" Lucy encouraged Gajeel.

"I didn't beat Salamander," Gajeel replied, looking down.

"You still did good," Takumi told him.

Gajeel grunted.

"First Battle! Fairy Tail B's Mirajane Strauss and Blue Pegasus's Jenny Realight!"

"Wish me luck!" Mirajane said cheerfully, receiving many.

* * *

"What about we have a bet?" Jenny asked slyly. "The loser has to appear in Socerer's Weekly. In the nude."

"Sure thing!" she radiated happiness.

They continued posing, men checking them out.

"She's so pretty!" Lucy exclaimed.

Takumi rolled his eyes.

Mavis swung her legs and threw a bunch of outfits in the air, "Every girl can participate too!"

"Do we have to?" Cana asked sleepily.

"DO IT!" Makarov yelled. "Obey the first."

Small tears were forming at the edges of Mavis's eyes, "Do you not like my idea?"

"WE LOVE IT!"

All the girls made their way to the arena and posed.

_"School Girl!"_

_"Bondage!"_

_"Cat Ears!"_

_"Glasses Girl!"_

_"Wedding Dress!"_

"Choose partners!" Half the the crowd shouted and leaned forward in anticipation, hoping to get picked.

"Hibiki!" Jenny waved.

"Laxus!" Mirajane chose.

Cana chose Bacchus, Bisca picked Alzack, Juvia's pick was obviously Gray, Lisanna chose Natsu and Erza managed to 'persuade' the judges to go alone. However, Wendy was flown out by Carla before she could pick.

When it came to Lucy, she tried stalling, "Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Pick it," Mirajane grinned.

"Mira," she whined. "Don't make me."

At Mirajane's look, she gave up, "Kumi."

When Takumi had changed and was in the arena, she told him, "This doesn't make anything awkward between us."

"Sure," he smirked. "That's exactly why you picked me."

"No," she said, "You told me to stay away from the tigers."

"So if I didn't say anything to you, you would've picked Sting?"

"Maybe," she teased. Takumi glared at her. "Nah, he's too busy sulking anyway."

* * *

"The winner is Mirajane Strauss!"

"Great job, Mira," Lucy congratulated.

"Thank you!"

"Next battle is... Sabertooth's Yukino Arugia vs Mermaid Heel's Kagura Mikazuchi!"

* * *

"To think there was such a good Celestial Spirit Mage in _Sabertooth_," Lucy mused to Takumi.

"Eh, still not as good as me," he boasted. "Or you."

Mirajane squealed, "It's love!"

Lucy and Takumi rolled their eyes.

"And that's the end of today!" Chapati announced. The Fairy Tail members left to go to their rooms, leaving behind Lucy, Carla, Wendy and Takumi.

"And back to the lodge," Lucy sighed.

"Do you not like it, Lucy-san?" Wendy asked.

"It's not...bad, it's just that Laxus and Gajeel snore, Mira's always wanting to know if I like anybody and Takumi...he's annoying."

"I try," he grinned. "Anyway, Wendy, congrats on being in Team A."

"Thank you Takumi-san."

* * *

"I'm hungry," Lucy said simply. She and Takumi were the only ones iin the lodge, as others had gone out to eat.

Takumi responded, "I told you we could go out to eat earlier."

She refused. "Virgo gave me something. I'm craving for something that isn't edible for most humans."

"Spirit," he supplied. "No way."

"Please," she pleaded. "It's yummy."

"I refuse."

"Please!"

"I refuse."

"Kumi~" she sang, eyes full of hopefulness. Takumi stared at her for ages, dreading what he was about to say next.

"Fine."

"Thank you!"

**Horrible chapter :( Next chapter'll be much better (hopefully)!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks for the (over) 100 reviews! It's a lot more than I ever expected!**

**If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not doing the Eclipse bit of the Grand Magic Games. It's not over yet in the manga and I usually don't like writing about unfinished arcs. **

"We're back!" Mirajane called out. "Takumi, Lu...cy?"

Lucy had fallen asleep, facing Takumi, who was on the bed next to hers, also facing her.

"It's so cute!" Mirajane wailed. "They have to come to their senses already! We can't take it!"

"That was my bed," Laxus grumbled, ignoring her comments.

"Deal with it, sleep in Takumi's bed," Mira replied. "Don't you think they're cute?"

"No," Gajeel stated.

"You have no sense."

* * *

"Day 3! Today's event is Pandemonium!" Mato explained the rules. "Choose your contestants!"

"We should use the strongest in our group, who's Erza, definitely," Gray stratigised.

"I accept," she nodded.

At Fairy Tail B, they were having a hard time choosing the participant.

"Takumi or Laxus," Lucy decided. "They haven't done one yet."

"Good idea," Mira agreed. "You guys can talk it out behind there," she pointed to a wall.

They went behind it and Laxus began.

"Tell you what," Laxus told Takumi, "I prefer battling it out, so you can do this one."

"Thanks," Takumi nodded and Laxus turned and walked away.

Lucy ran over to Takumi, "Do you want a Spirit boost?"

Laxus walked back, "Wait, what?"

"He's a Spirit Dragon Slayer, he eats food from the Celestial World," Lucy lied.

Laxus looked at her suspiciously, "Really?"

She nodded.

"Well," he continued, "No need for that, I've got something that can help you."

"Why?"

"Let's just say I want Natsu to be my slave, and I'll help anyone to do that."

* * *

"My challenge right will be all 100," Erza announced.

"T-That's impossible!" Mato stammered. "Y-you'll get killed!"

"I will do it," she repeated.

Eyes wide, Mato let her enter the chamber.

* * *

"Well, since Erza Scarlet managed to defeat all 100 monsters, the creators have come up with a short, simple event," Mato said happily. "MPF, or Magic Power Finder. Attack this orb," he gestured to it, "With an attack. It will score you and the one with the highest score wins. Start!"

"I'm first!" Milianna took off her cape. "Nekosuko Tube!" Cat tubes flew at the circle, hitting it. The MPF came up with a score of 365.

"That's high enough to get her a position as squad captain," Lahar observed.

Nobarly was next with a low score of 124 and Hibiki was after with an even lower score of 95.

"Obra!"

Said man unleashed a black imp that barely skimmed the MPF.

"A score of 3! Sorry, no retries."

"Obra!" Flare gasped. "Be serious!"

Alexei whacked her across the face, "He cannot show his power."

Nupullding commented, "It takes a lot for him to be serious."

Back at the event, Orga sauntered up to the orb and put his arms in front of him, "120mm Black Lightning Cannon!" Black lightning shot out of his hands and into the orb, and a result of 3825 popped up, much to everyone's surprise.

_"It's a big score!"_

_"As expected of Sabertooth!"_

_"I wonder what Fairy Tail will get?"_

"I guess I'm up next," Jura rumbled. "May I get serious?" he asked Mato.

"Of course."

Jura closed his eyes, "Rumbling Mt Fuji!" They opened.

The arena rumbled as rock pieces jutted out from the floor, piercing the MPF, which came up with 8544.

Gasps were listened to, in the stands.

"Now Fairy Tail B! Takumi!"

"Well," he shrugged. "I have no idea what I'm doing. But..."

Cana was alarmed, "What, how the hell? Why doesn't he... "He's strong, isn't he? Why doesn't he"-

"Relax, he's got it," Laxus told her.

"Spirit Lightning..."

"Lightning?" Lucy questioned.

"Blast!" A torret of blue surrounded by lightning crashed straight into the orb.

"5130!" The audience cheered.

"5130 from Takumi in Fairy Tail B, placing him third, only after Jura from Lamia Scale and Erza Scarlet," Mato said calmly.

* * *

**Scores:**

**Blue Pegasus: 20pt, 7th**

**Fairy Tail A: 32pt, 2nd**

**Fairy Tail B: 36pt, 1st**

**Lamia Scale: 24pt, 5th**

**Mermaid Heel: 22pt, 6th**

**Quatro Cerberus: 15pt, 8th**

**Raven Tail: 25pt, 3rd**

**Sabertooth: 25pt, 3rd**

* * *

"Good job Wendy," Lucy congratulated the little girl. "That was great."

"It wasn't that good Lucy-san," she was embarrassed.

"Yes it was," Takumi joined. "It was awesome."

"Next up, Laxus Dreyar versus Alexei!"

"Kick ass," Gajeel grinned to Laxus.

Said man nodded determindly.

* * *

Lucy leapt up, "He's getting his ass kicked!" She pointed at Laxus.

Takumi was relaxed, "Don't worry, he's not."

"Huh?"

"He's okay."

"And how do you know?"

"Just a feeling."

* * *

"You were right!" Lucy shouted. "How'd you know?"

Takumi smiled affectionately, "I'm the Spirit Dragon Slayer, I don't just give up."

"I don't either," she grumbled childlishly.

He ruffled her hair and laughed. Lucy pouted and smoothed her hair down, "You suck."

"Thank you."

**Ryuutzetsu Land is next, and thn Naval Battle! 2 of my favourite parts (I'm changing them)!**


	14. Chapter 14

"Ryuuzetsu Island?" Lucy questioned.

Levy and Erza shrugged, "It's our day off, so why not?"

Lucy's eyes wandered to Takumi for permission. He smirked and looked away, "I don't have an opinion."

She glared at his back.

"Yeah, sure!" Lucy smiled, erasing her earlier annoyance. "Are you going, Mira?"

Mirajane nodded enthusiastically, "Of course!"

"Laxus?"

"Gramps is making me go," he said grudgingly. "And the First."

"Gajeel?" Levy asked.

"No."

"Please?" She pleaded. "It'd be fun."

"..." He rolled his eyes, "Fine."

"Great!" Lucy clapped, "Everyone's going!"

"I never said I was going," Takumi pointed out.

"Well," she leered, "Apparently, now you don't have an opinion."

"Everyone, get ready!" Mirajane took charge. "And Takumi and Lucy, you can flirt later."

They flushed and went their different ways.

* * *

Lucy stretched, "It's so nice here, don't you think?" she asked Takumi. They were lying on sun chairs, drinking milkshakes, facing the pool.

"I don't know," he said bitterly. "I don't have an opinion."

"Get over it."

He frowned childishly, "I want my opinion back."

"It was a joke."

"Does that mean I get it back?" He inquired eagerly.

"Lucy-chan, you look gorgeous today," Hibiki appeared.

"The parfum is so lovely," Ichiya breathed in.

Eve mumbled something incoherent under his bandages, "Muf lk botfl **(more like beautiful)**."

"You're pretty, but I've seen better," Ren looked away and gave her a flower.

"Would you like a drink?" Hibiki presented a tray of different beverages, from juice to alcohol.

"Uh, no thanks," she shook her head and lifted her drink, "Got one."

"Well, anything else I can get you?"

"No, go enjoy yourself!" she smiled.

"Mff, Lcy-chan's so ns **(Lucy-chan is so nice)**," Eve slurred.

"I want to smell more of this parfum!"

"She doesn't need anything," Takumi told them, "_You_ can go now."

"Kumi!" she gaped.

"He is right, we shall no longer disturb you," Hibiki nodded gallantly. "See you later."

Once they'd left, Takumi muttered, "Stupid playboys." He corrected himself, "And playmen. That was so disturbing."

"They're nice people," Lucy argued.

"Sure, sure."

"They are!" she protested. "Like, Hibiki's really smart, and he saved Erza's life, in away. Eve is adorable and Ren may seem like a tsundere, but he's nice."

"And Ichiya?"

"No comment."

* * *

"Gray-sama!" Juvia chased him, "Good luck tomorrow!"

"It's our break day, Juvia," he told her. "Relax."

"Juvia-chan!" Lyon called. "Don't follow that bastard."

Juvia stopped, "But Gray-sama"-

"Go on this ride with me?" He asked. "The Love Love Slide?"

"I'm going on that one," Gray said, eyebrow raised.

"It's for two people Gray, Juvia's going with me," Lyon announced.

"I don't care, it'll be ironic," Gray murmured. "I'm still going on it."

Juvia, of course, heard this and jumped at the chance, "Of course, Lyon-sama!"

* * *

"Levy, look!" Happy shouted. "I'm a fish!"

He was standing behind a wall, that had fish painted on it, but instead of heads, holes were cut so people could fit their heads behind it. It wasn't designed for exceeds, or _any_ cat so instead of is head staying behind it, it popped through the hole.

Levy giggled at the adorableness of the exceed, as well as Pantherlily, who was an octopus.

Gajeel tried to hide it, but he snorted.

Pantherlily hopped down and took kiwi juice from a counter.

Sipping it, he flew to Gajeel's shoulder.

* * *

"I wonder where Sabertooth is," Lucy thought aloud.

"_Why_?" Takumi was angered. They _were _the rivals, at least that was what his point would be.

"It's just... Every guild is here, they're missing out on the fun," she pouted.

Takumi shook his head in amusement.

"Blondie..."

"Flare!" Lucy exclaimed.

The red haired lady loomed over them, and Lucy's hand immediately went to her waist. Flare averted her eyes, and if Lucy could've sworn she looked apologetic. The answer came with Flare's next phrase, "I'm sorry."

Lucy's eyes widened and she opened up her mouth to say something, but Flare was already walking away.

Lucy was about to stand up but Takumi stopped her. "Don't. Stay here."

She looked at im, and then at a retreating Flare's back.

"Ok."

* * *

"The Love Love Slide!" Juvia squealed. "Gray-Sama..."

"Juvia, aren't you riding with me?"

Far away, Ichiya was playing with Natsu, running around. He tripped, and Natsu was catapulted into the air, and was heading straight for Lyon, Juvia and Gray. Natsu knocked Lyon and Gray down the slide. They hugged due to the sheer drop of the slide.

"Stop it!"

"Freeze it!"

"You freeze it!"

"FREEZE!"

They both did at once, causing the whole place to be slowly consumed by ice.

"Is this what they call boy lov-" Juvia was cut off by ice covering her. She didn't mind though, unlike everyone else, she had affiliated with her 'Gray-Sama'.

"You idiot, Gray!" Natsu, Lucy and Takumi were the only others who wouldn't affected. Natsu, because of his magic, and Takumi and Lucy because Takumi had covered them with his magic. "I'll unfreeze them," Natsu continued. "Fire Dragon's"-

"Natsu, no!"

"Brilliant Flame!"

* * *

"The Magic Council will be hearing about this!" The angry owner shouted at Makarov. He and Mavis started sobbing, and Laxus held Natsu by his neck.

Lucy shook her head at Fairy Tail's antics.

Takumi walked up to Makarov, "Master, the Magic Council may give you a few...exceptions if I come with."

Lucy laughed, "Kumi's a suck-up."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"No."

"Yes~"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Shut up and get together already," Mira shouted, and others made sounds of agreement.

"I don't care!" Makarov yelled, relieved. "Takumi is coming with me!"

**So, next chapter might take a while as my parents are limiting my laptop time. Sorry, but blame them if I don't update for a week.**

**NAVAL BATTLE EXCITEMENT!**


	15. Chapter 15

"So what happened?" Lucy asked eagerly. Takumi had arrived at the lodge from a meeting between Makarov and the Magic Council. Lucy had waited up, it was late, but the others had gone to sleep.

"You shouldn't have waited up," Takumi reprimanded. "You're going for the event tomorrow. Sleep, and reagain energy."

"I don't care." She said stubbornly, "Tell me!"

"Fairy Tail still has to cover the costs for Ryuuzetsu Island, but the Magic Council is willing to pay half and not put it on Fairy Tail's records," he shrugged.

"That much?" she gaped.

He smirked, "I have that effect on people."

She laughed, "Only the Magic Council."

"Anyway, I'm starving. Do we have anything in the kitchen?"

"Yeah."

Takumi went, took it and sat down, Lucy opposite him.

"So what was Gran Doma's face like?" Lucy grinned.

"Hilarious," he chuckled.

"I wish I was there."

"I wish you were too."

* * *

"Fourth Day!" Mato shouted. "One more day until we found out what guild is the strongest!"

"The excitement is high," Chapati announced.

"And so is the tension between guilds," Yajima added.

"So lets get started. This event is called Naval Battle. In the water sphere, all participants will be placed in there, and if anybody falls out, they're out. When there are 2 people, a rule will be placed where the firrst one out gets the least points. This only lasts for 5 minutes. The participants are..."

_"Risley Law!"_

_"Jenny Realight!"_

_"Chelia Blendy!"_

_"Rocker!"_

_"Lisanna Strauss!"_

"Yes!" Lisanna cheered. "My turn!"

_"Minerva!"_

The lady smirked evilly.

_"Lucy Heartfilia!"_

"Hey, Lisanna," Lucy caught her attention. "Want to work together until we beat everyone else?"

Lisanna considered it, before nodding, "Yes, that's a smart idea. But once we're the only ones left, we can fight our hardest, deal?"

"Yep," Lucy agreed. "Fairy Tail B will win."

"I don't think so," Lisanna countered.

The hi-fived, "Let's do this thing!"

* * *

"Start!"

"Open! Gate of The Water Bearer! Aquarius!" Lucy chanted,the mermaid appearing. "Aquarius, get everyone but Lisanna and I outta here."

"Giant Wave!" Aquarius blast a wave toward the others, only pushing out Risely, who yanked Chelia down with her.

Aquarius's eyes widened as she saw only 2 people knocked out, "Well, I suppose I can't help you. I'm off on a date with my boyfriend. _My boyfriend," _she repeated.

"Don't repeat it!" Lucy shrieked.

"Animal Takeover: Mermaid," Lisanna recited, gaining a tail. "Splash!"

She sent the attack to Minerva who evaded it.

"My chance!" Jenny exclaimed, "One hit out!" She kicked Rocker out of the sphere. Team Quatro Puppy growled.

"Beaten by a girl!" Quatro Puppy booed.

Lucy swam over to get a better look. "Good job," she nodded. "You've got a nice kick."

"Thanks," Jenny smiled. "Do you have signature move?"

"Oh yeah."

"What's it called?"

Lucy edged closer. "Oh, it's a rather difficult move called... _Lucy Kick!"_

Jenny was thrown out of the sphere, much to most of the men's disappointment.

"Sorry!" Lucy called out. "But it's for the event. Maybe we could be friends!?"

"Pay attention to the game," Minerva said in a monotone. Lucy whipped her head to the direction of the noise.

Minerva was holding an seriously injured Lisanna by the hair. As soon as Lucy understood what was happening, Lisanna let out a piercing shriek and was launched out of the Water Ball by the hair.

To Lucy's relief, Natsu had run fast enough to catch Lisanna.

Natsu was blazing, "Luce," he looked up angrily. "Beat them. Get them so hard, they won't know what's happening."

She nodded. Lucy met Takumi's eyes.

_Keep going,_ his eyes said, _you're doing great. _He put his thumbs up. He was worried, sure, but knew she could do it. Takumi looked over at Sabertooth's stands. They smirked. Erza, Natsu and Takumi glared at them back.

"Now she's with the lady, she's going to lose," Rufus said.

Takumi's ears pricked up and he snarled.

"The 5 minute rule has been activated," Mato's voice was heard.

"How are you going to fight back now?" Minerva asked, dangling something in her hand. Lucy's eyes widened as she recognised her keys. The audience recognised them too, but as Lucy's only way of fighting.

"Give them back!" she lunged for them.

Minerva laughed sadistically, "Too bad." She hit Lucy with an explosion.

"Warm, heavy... Lead?" Lucy questioned, being hit with a ton more.

"Lucy!" Takumi shouted from the sidelines, almost ready to jump over the bars if not for 1 more way. "Use it!"

He was met with many questioning glances.

_"Use it?"_

_"What's it?"_

_"I think she's stuffed now."_

_"Duh, Sabertooth's alway's going to win."_

_"Fairy Tail may be winning, but it's probably luck."_

All of Fairy Tail glared at the 2 speaking, causing them to shrink back.

"Cheer for her!" Mavis laughed. She, of course, knew about Lucy's magic, she'd asked Takumi and Lucy to tell her. When they'd denied anything, she threatened them. With tears.

Minerva hit one more explosion at Lucy's stomach and Lucy curled up into a ball.

To others, it may have looked like a sign of surrendering.

To Takumi, it meant something different.

Lucy's mouth curled into a grinned and she whispered, "Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's..."

Minerva raised a brow.

"_ROAR_!"

Blue shot out of her mouth and hit Minerva, who hadn't managed to dodge it out of surprise.

Chapati was excited, "It seems Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail has a second magic!"

"Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's Blast!" Lucy shot blue bullets at her.

"She is apparently a Dragon Slayer Slayer," Chapati said.

_"What's that?"_

"A _SPIRIT_ Dragon Slayer Slayer!" Chapati specified.

Suddenly Mirajane was very close to Takumi, "So... you and Lucy were a lot more than just partners, huh?"

"Partners," Takumi restated.

"But it's so much more romantic to be Mentor and Student!"

"Mira," Takumi flushed. "Just...no."

"Aww."

"Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's Punch!"

Minerva dodged and moved to the edge of the ball.

Lucy swam as fast as she could toward her, only to get teleported there quicker than expected.

Minerva swung her fist at Lucy, expecting her to be surprised, but Lucy grabbed it and Spirit covered it.

"You little..." Minerva growled. "Explode!"

"Match End! It's a tie!" Mato shouted.

The substance still covered Lucy.

"Explode!" Minerva repeated.

"Stop! The event has ended!"

Lucy let out a shriek and then a light took over the arena.

Everyone was panicking, the mascot had asked Sabertooth to stop, but they didn't. What else were they going to do?

A scream was heard and then the light faded.

Lucy was covered in cuts but had Minerva in a hold, one arm around her neck, the other holding her hands.

"You bitch," Minerva sneered.

"The event's...over," Lucy managed to say. "Suck it up."

"Sabertooth will win and Fairy Tail will lose, like every year," Minerva scorned. "It will be no different."

"Change...is good," Lucy panted. "But you wouldn't...know."

Before Lucy could stop it, she was pushed out of the sphere.

She fell in Takumi's arms.

"You're welcome," he joked before turning serious, "Are you okay?"

Lucy wheezed, "Don't I look...okay?"

"No, you don't," he replied. "Porlyusica! Help her now! Please!"

* * *

**Scores:**

**Blue Pegasus:23pt**

**Fairy Tail A:29pt**

**Fairy Tail B:40pt**

**Lamia Scale:18pt**

**Mermaid Heel:19pt**

**Quatro Cerberus:15pt**

**Sabertooth:30pt**

* * *

"Who screamed when we couldn't see?" Takumi asked.

"Minerva..." Lucy rasped. "Definitely..."

**Meanwhile, In Sabertooth's Inn**

"Minerva," Jiemma said.

"Yes, father?"

"Who screamed?"

"That would have to surely be the blonde, father," Minerva answered respectively. "Definitely."

**Back in Fairy Tail's infimary**

"Why are you having trouble speaking?" Takumi interrogated.

"Doesn't help that...I have to repeat Slayer...twice," she gasped for air. "One of her moves hit my...ribs."

"I've got something for that," Porlyusica said. "Here."

Lucy put the ointment on. "It's better!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Of course it is," Porlyusica replied, miffed.

"How's Lisanna?"

"She's doing fine," Makarov walked in, along with all of Fairy Tail. "But I have something else to discuss. Because now there are only 7 teams, the judges have asked us to combine A and B. We need to choose 5 members to be in this new team."

"What about the points?" Gray asked.

"We are to have 35 points, the middle number of both of your scores."

"That's not fair for us," Lucy pointed out.

"Fairy Tail is still ahead though," Takumi shrugged.

"And it will stay that way," Makarov instructed. "But firstly, choose the team members."

* * *

Levy smiled, "This truely is the best team."

"I can't picture them losing," Wendy added.

"They're great!" Romeo's eyes shined.

"In the new Team Fairy Tail..."

**Going to cut it off now. This chapter's so long...**

**On a completely UNRELATED topic, doesanyone have any surnames for Takumi? (not Usui, but that would be cool)**


	16. Chapter 16

**By the way, I'm following the manga, so if you only watch the anime, I will be giving spoilers. Sorry.**

_"In the new Team Fairy Tail..."_

"Takumi Higuchi!"

"Lucy Heartfilia!"

"Erza Scarlet!"

"Gajeel Redfox!"

"Natsu Dragneel!"

Unlike the first day, cheers resounded the area. Each member grinned widely (except for Erza)

_Flashback_

_"We could do this by nominating, I guess," Makarov rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I didn't plan. So the person gets nominated, seconded and then finalised, they're in. ONLY if they accept."_

_"I nominate Erza-san," Bisca started. All the guild agreed._

_"I accept."_

_Juvia spoke up, "I nominate Gray-sam"-_

_"No thanks," Gray interrupted. "I think the others have more reason than I to beat up Sabertooth."_

_"I choose Kumi," Lucy stood. At Mira's teasing glare Lucy put her hands up in a surrendering way, "What? He's strong."_

_"Then I second that," Mira giggled._

_"I finalise it," Mavis cheered. Everyone looked at Lucy and Takumi in shock. They'd just gotten Mavis's affirmation, how strong had they become?_

_"Then I vote Luce," Takumi said defensively._

_"I second it," Laki nodded._

_"I third it!" Natsu called out. The members didn't bother to tell him it didn't make sense, they still understood it._

_"Laxus!" Freed yelled._

_"No," Laxus shot it down. "There's some **others** that need to be in the team."_

_"You're going to be the reserve member, Laxus," Makarov ordered._

_"I nominate Gajeel," Levy began._

_"Me too," Pantherlily said gruffly._

_"Uh, I think so too," Wendy stuttered._

_"Natsu," Erza said. And because Erza said it, the guild agreed._

_"Then we've got our team."_

_End Flashback_

* * *

"Last tag battle of the day! Sabertooth vs Fairy Tail! The rivals since day one! Who will win? The strongest guild or the strongest guild 7 years ago?"

The audience yelled out their choice.

"Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox versus Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney!"

Natsu and Gajeel leapt over the bars in excitement.

"Aww," Takumi groaned. "I wanted to punch Sting's face in."

"By the looks of it, so does Natsu."

* * *

"Congrats, Natsu," Lucy smiled.

"Thanks Lucy," he returned the smile tiredly. "I'm gonna go sleep." He walked away.

"Code-word for destroying something," Gray chuckled.

"We should stop him," Takumi said.

"Nah," they all laughed.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BURNT DOWN A STREET?" Makarov seethed.

"You weren't joking?" Takumi asked Gray.

"Oops."

Makarov sighed, "Takumi, come with me to the next Magic Council meeting."

"As long as Luce can come too," he bargained.

Makarov shrugged, "She never destroys anything, sure."

"Yes!" she cheered.

"And Natsu?" Makarov continued. "Laxus is taking your place in Team Fairy Tail."

"Damn it!"

"Your fault, flame brain," Gray sniggered.

"Shut up snowball."

* * *

"Hey Luce," Takumi caught up with her. "Where'd you want to go tonight?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "Where do _you _want to go?"

"Well, they're having a festival thing in Crocus for the last day of the Games, do you want to go?"

"Is that a serious question?" she asked. "Of course!"

* * *

"You're such a kid," Takumi chuckled.

"You're only a year older," Lucy pouted. "Anyway, balloons are awesome." She was distracted, "Oooh, toy stalls."

"They're game stands," he corrected her.

"Bunny!" she cheered. "Come on!" she waved him over.

He sighed, even though he was smiling and ran over, "What's up with you and bunnies?"

"They're my favourite animal*!" she informed him before talking to the stall owner, "How much for one game?"

"1 game is 50J and for that you are given 5 balls," The stall-girl explained. "Just chuck them through the hoops. If you get a score of 1000 points, you get the rabbit."

There were 5 hoops, a 20, a 50, a 100, a 500 and one 1000. The higher the score was, the further away it was. The 1000 hoop was, in Lucy's view, 3 metres away, and it moved. fast.

"That's easy," Takumi smirked.

"You do it then," she chickened out.

"You have 5 tries, you're bound to get one in," he shrugged. "Go on."

Lucy slid the money to the girl over the counter and she passed her the balls.

She aimed one at the 50, but missed. One by one, she used up the balls until there was one left.

"Gosh, this is hard," she wiped sweat from her forehead. "Takumi, help me."

He stared at her.

"Please."

He snickered, "Fine." He shot it the 1000.

"Here you go, a bunny," the lady handed it over.

"Thank you," Takumi thanked the girl.

"Thanks, Kumi," Lucy grinned.

"No problem," he gave her the fluffy bunny.

The girl winked at Lucy, "He's a keeper."

They both blushed and groaned, "Not you too."

* * *

"Makarov's arranged a team meeting," Takumi informed Lucy. "Tonight."

"Yay," she said sarcastically.

"We've still got an hour left," he told her. "What do you want to do?"

"You choose, I have for the past 4 activities."

He considered, "I don't know, what about"-

"Fireworks!" A passer-by called out to her friend. "In 2 minutes!"

"Let's go see that," he suggested.

"Good idea," she agreed.

* * *

"It's cold," Lucy shivered. Takumi raised a brow. He could feel her shaking from beside her

"Don't you still have your cape?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Happy took it and never gave it back."

Seconds later, something landed on her face.

She grabbed it, "How _nice_ of you_. _You threw your hoodie at me."

"Take it or leave it."

She shrugged and put it on, "Thanks."

Takumi remained silent.

"The last time I wore this was 7 years ago," Lucy said sleepily.

"Missed it?" Takumi asked, smirking.

"It's comfy," was her defence.

"I know," he replied.

They stared at the sky, expecting the fireworks to appear.

Unexpectedly, a man ran past them, running through Lucy's shoulder making her turn to Takumi. He held her protectively.

"They're starting!"

Booms and crackles were in the sky, lighting it up. Both still maintained the position they were in, distracted.

"It's incredible," Lucy said breathlessly. "Kumi, look!"

"I'm already looking, idiot," he lied. Takumi was looking at her, slightly amazed at how enchanted she was.

In fact, he spent most of the firework show looking at her.

Not that she had noticed.

Not that he would ever tell her.

* * *

"Everyone's gone," Takumi told her.

Lucy lay sprawled out on the grass, staring up at a now empty sky, "I know."

"So what are you doing?"

"Stargazing."

"Of course you are," Takumi knew she loved stargazing, it proved she loved her spirits.

"Come on," she patted the grass next to her.

"Nah," he declined. "We have to go to Makarov's meeting, remember?"

She checked the time, "We're running late!"

* * *

"Okay," Makarov began, "Let's get started."

"Sorry for being late!" Takumi and Lucy barged in.

"It's fine," Mavis's eyes twinkled. "What were _you two_ up to?"

Lucy shook her head, "Nothing. Let's start now."

Mavis smiled at the two of them.

"The last day of the Grand Magic Tournament is the main part; the Grand Magic War Games." Mavis told the team. "We need to plan a strategy."

"Mavis Vermillion," Makarov introduced formerly. "The Fairy Tactician; she has won many wars with her brain."

"And I will help you," Mavis instructed. "Here's our plan..."

***True fact! It was on one of the manga covers.**

**OK! This chapter is so cliché... I don't like writing clichés sorry, this was kinda a filler, I just wanted to to announce the teams, and then the change of teams, and then put in some KumixLuce moments. I WANT THEM TO GET TOGETHER ALREADY. But my timing sucks so I'm just waiting it out...**


	17. Chapter 17

**The War Games will be broken into bits, because it will be too long for just one chapter.**

"It's the day everybody waits for, the Grand Magic War Games! All teams are stationed at different parts of Crocus. Every time a person is declared unable to fight, the attacker is handed a point. Each team has chosen a secret leader, and if defeated, the other team gains 5 points." Mato explained.

_Flashback_

_"I have found out who is the leader of each team," Mavis said gravely, completely serious for once. "Blue Pegasus has Ichiya, Mermaid Heel uses Kagura, Quatro Cerberus has Bacchus, Jura is Lamia Scale's leader and Minerva is Sabertooth's."_

_"Using the process of elimination, we'll find our leader. We need to choose a leader that is not easily predictable, as they will be the ones targeted. Laxus and Erza are out, for they will be fighting the hardest opponents, and have the most chance of being taken down. They have also done extraordinary feats in the Games. Gajeel shouldn't be either, for he has proven his strength and will also be predicted. Which leaves us Takumi and Lucy." Erza, Laxus and Gajeel looked at the two._

_"Takumi would be a good choice, as he has only participated once and his power is still unknown. On the other hand, people wouldn't think Lucy would be the leader because she fought and was hurt yesterday and is also technically the youngest of the group." Mavis looked at them both, "Who should it be?"_

_Flashback End_

"Start!"

Team Fairy Tail huddled, "Let's do this!" They closed their eyes and stood rooted to the spot.

"What's this?" Chapati shouted into the microphone. "Fairy Tail isn't moving?"

"Move, you idiots!" Jet and Droy shouted. "Move!"

"Watch what your saying, Jet, Droy," Makarov warned. "Master Mavis came up with this plan."

Mavis laughed, "It's okay, Third. We must remain calm. Over the past 4 days, I have been analysing the opponents movements, magic, psychology and movement patterns. With that in mind, I carried out the plan."

The guild were taken aback.

She laughed, "I think they ought to be more worried at the fact they just called Erza an 'idiot'."

Jet and Droy shivered, "I'm sorry!"

The rest snickered.

But still, Team Fairy Tail did not move.

* * *

"What's wrong, Rufus?" Orga questioned, walking on rooftops.

"They're not moving," he murmured thoughtfully.

"And while we're puzzled by Fairy Tail's actions, the first guild has met another!"

Lamia Scale's Yuka and Toby walked around a corner and walked into Nobarly and WarCry.

"I seal their magic!" Yuka got ready.

* * *

"Now Lamia Scale have defeated almost all of Quatro Puppy, except for Bacchus!"

"Haha, there you are!" Bacchus exclaimed, seeing Yuka and Toby. "Drunk-chop"-

"White Dragon's Roar!" Sting shouted. The attack hit Bacchus. Sting then turned to Yuka and Toby.

"Crap!" Yuka and Toby swore. To their surprise, they weren't attack by Sting.

They were hurt by Kagura.

Sting had disappeared.

* * *

Minutes passed.

When the audience started growing bored, Erza opened her eyes, "5."

Laxus did the same, "4."

Gajeel smiled a wolfish grin, "3."

"2," Takumi smirked.

Lucy's eyes snapped open, "1."

Mavis stood up on the railing, "Fairy Tail Strategy Activate!"

"Roger!" They all split up, except for Takumi and Lucy.

_Flashback_

_"Takumi and Lucy stay together," Mavis ordered._

_"Why?" They asked, puzzled._

_"You two work together well, and if any of you run out of energy, you're going to help each other, you know how," Mavis beamed. __"As for the rest of you, you're, unfortunately, going at it solo. You're capable enough."_

_"What, so we aren't?"_

_"No," Mavis shook her head. "The leader needs back-up anyway."_

_Flashback End_

"A Night of Falling Stars!"

"It's the same magic as the first day!" Chapati shouted.

"So pretty," Mato looked amazed. "Kapoh."

"Within 2 seconds of seeing it in the sky, they are capable of blocking it," Mavis's eyes glazed over.

Erza ran forward at last minute, letting the attack hit behind her. Takumi, Lucy and Gajeel did the same.

"Since the attack is of lightning element, only Laxus can guard it," Mavis said.

Laxus guarded the attack.

Rufus was shock, "They all blocked it. Wha-How?"

"His confusion will mix up his thought processes. Everyone move out!" Mavis ordered. "Go to your own destinations!"

"Now he is confused, there is a 68% chance he will attempt to approach us and" Mavis calculated, "A 32% chance he'll stay where he is. Either way, it won't be a hindrance to our plan. First, Erza will go North-West, coming in contact with her first enemy, Jenny Realight."

"As First said," Erza nodded. "Quite a terrific person."

She turned to Jenny.

"Crush."

* * *

"Gajeel will go to the south, where Blue Pegasus's Trimens are."

Fairy Tail watched the lacrima positioned on the Trimens. They had taken down Mermaid Heel's Arania and Beth, gaining 2 points.

"Haha," Gajeel laughed. "Gotcha!"

When they turned around, he roared iron at them.

"Go Hibiki!" Ren and Eve shouted, letting him pass.

Hibiki ran, murmuring to himself, "There's someone in Fairy Tail whose calculations exceed those of my Archive?"

Takumi and Lucy rounded the corner Hibiki was heading toward. Lucy smirked.

"There is."

Takumi sprinted up to him, "Spirit Dragon Slayer's Punch!"

* * *

**Scores:**

**Blue Pegasus: 1 leader, 1 member. 2pt,4th**

**Fairy Tail: 1 leader, 4 members. 4pt, 2nd**

**Lamia Scale: 1 leader, 4 members. 4pt, 2nd**

**Mermaid Heel: 1 leader, 4 members. 2pt, 4th**

**Quatro Cerberus: 0 leader, 0 members. 0pt, 6th**

**Sabertooth: 1 leader, 4 members. 5pt, 1st**

* * *

"Now, Lucy and Takumi"- Mavis was cut off.

"Lucy and Takumi~" Mira sang, "They are so adorable~"

Mavis cleared her throat, "They are going towards the library, to find Rufus."

"Interesting..." Laki mused, "Who will fight him?"

"You'll have to wait for that one."

Lucy and Takumi's footsteps echoed in the empty library.

She looked around at all the books, "So many! We've got to come back her sometime," she told Takumi.

"Pay attention."

"Lucy Heartfilia and Takumi Higuchi," Rufus appeared. "I have forgotten about you. Care to remind me?" He faced Takumi.

"You're fight's with me," Lucy snarled, regaining his attention. "I heard you doubted I could beat that monster Minerva."

"She ran out of time," Rufus explained smoothly. "You will never beat me, not to mention her."

"You were incorrect on your first prediction. This one will be wrong also," Lucy glared.

"Would you like to bet?" He asked. "If you win, I'll tell you our leader. If I win, you tell me yours."

Lucy didn't waver, "No deal."

"Why?" he questioned. "Afraid?"

"No," she responded bravely. "I know your leader. When I win, and trust me, I will, you will..." she stopped to think, "You will give me your hat."

Rufus put one hand on it protectively, "Deal. However, about that winning comment, I disagree."

"Then let's get this over with, shall we?"

"Let's," his lips curled.

"We shall win," they both said.


	18. Chapter 18

**This is my try at descriptive writing, it's a fail -_- But people reviewed asking for more descriptiveness (not a word, keep that in mind. At least I think...), so I tried it.**

Rufus swiped an arm in Lucy's direction, "Memory-Make: Shrine of the Turbulent Fang."

Whirlwinds appeared around Lucy, blowing her blonde hair around. She spun wildly, trying to find a way out.

She sighed, "Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's Wings." Blue detailed wings appeared onto her back and she shot up, away from the tornadoes.

"Memorize," Rufus used his usual stance, index and middle fingers to his temples. He tipped his head downward, his hat shielding his eyes. He lifted it back up, "Forget."

The wings disappeared, and Lucy screamed as she fell several metres to the ground, to the the swirls below. Takumi rushed toward her, but he hit an invisible wall.

"Rune Magic?" Takumi pounded his fist against the barrier. Writing appeared at the edge. Takumi read it aloud, "Anyone in the rune may not exit until fight is over. If Magic is used inside the rune, the one using it will lose oxygen."

"Rune magic has been stored in my memory for quite some time," Rufus smiled slyly. "I saw Fairy Tail's Rune Mage a couple of weeks ago."

"Fairy Tail's Rune Mage?" Takumi questioned. He'd not been in Fairy Tail long, and was still having trouble remembering names.

"Freed?" Lucy walked out of the mist produced by the vortexes, uninjured. She strolled closer to the two, "Oh yeah, the 3 month training session. The one Kumi made me work on my _stamina_." She sent Takumi a mocking glare.

"Uninjured?" Rufus gaped, shocked. "How did you manage to escape one of my most dangerous attacks?"

"Well," Lucy scoffed, "If that's classified 'dangerous', I'm going to wipe the floor with you."

"Explain," Rufus ordered.

"I don't have to," she shrugged. "But I think it'll piss you off and actually make this fight fun. Tornadoes are most calm in the center, or the 'eye'." She smirked, "That's where I fell. Maybe you should know about your elements a bit more."

Rufus's eye twitched and he replied angrily, "For one specialising in a holder magic, you sure do talk a lot."

Lucy was taken aback, "I'm sorry, but are you insulting _me, _for having a holder magic?" She laughed, "That's so low." Her amused expression was quickly switched to a furious one.

"I'll show you how much a holder-type mage can _kick your ass_."

* * *

"Sabertooth," Ichiya posed. "Orga-san, you are a worthy opponent."

Orga rolled his eyes, "Go away, old man."

Ichiya had a face like he'd been shocked by lighting, "I am not old!" He was insulted, it had been 7 years since someone had told him so...

"Yes you are."

Ichiya pulled out vials, "You shall _taste_ the smell of my parfum!"

"That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever," Orga scoffedd. "Taste the smell?"

"Enough," Jura stated, ambling to the scene. "Enough about this talk. The War Games are created to fight."

"And fight we shall," Laxus grinned, from atop a building. He was sitting crosslegged "Let's start."

Jura karate-chopped Ichiya, hitting him out in one move.

"Lamia Scale is awarded 5 points for defeating Blue Pegasus's leader! And all of Blue Pegasus are down!"

"A Wizard Saint," Laxus observed. "I've never fought one before..."

"Makarov-dono's grandson," Jura exchanged. "If you have even half his power, I'm sure you will be a challenge."

"Do not compare me to him," Laxus said angrily. "He and I are very much different."

"As I'd hoped," Jura replied. "If not, I would have been bored."

Orga cleared his throat, gaining their attention, "If you are done, I would like to start."

"Eagerness can end badly," Jura said wisely.

"Can?" Laxus scoffed. "Oh, it _will_."

Orga's temper flared and he glared at Laxus, "I will defeat you, and then I'll sing a song."

"Then I'll have to defeat you, no matter what," Laxus smirked, rubbing his ears. "No one deserves to hear that."

"In case you haven't noticed," Orga smiled thinly. "I am a lightning mage."

"And in case _you _haven't noticed," Laxus mimicked, earning a scowl from Orga, "I'm the Lightning Dragon Slayer."

"I'm not just any lightning mage," Orga leered. Laxus and Jura shared a glance, thinking he'd boast about his greatness. They choked when they heard what he said next.

"I'm the Lightning God Slayer."

* * *

"Good job, Chelia!" Lyon nodded. Chelia had just defeated Risley, giving Lamia Scale another point.

"A thanks from Lyon-sama!" Chelia zoned out happily. "I wonder if he"-

"Too bad Juvia-chan didn't come," Lyon frowned.

Chelia's eyes widened and she slouched, "Oh."

"But then again, I couldn't ever fight her."

Chelia gritted her teeth, "Let's go, Lyon-sama. Lamia Scale is to win!"

* * *

"Luce, don't do anything reckless!" Takumi smashed his hands against the rune edge, "And you, bastard, let me out of this rune!"

Lucy shook her head, "No point, he won't let you out until I beat him."

"He could beat you!" He shouted without thinking.

Lucy turned toward him slowly, and he dreaded the words after.

"What happened to having faith in your nakama?"she was quiet.

"I'm just thinking about the possibilities!" he defended. "Luce, please, don't start this now."

"Believe me!" she yelled. "I'll beat him!"

He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. He shook his head, "...I don't doubt you, I'm just worried. I've never seen you fight without being able to help in some way."

Lucy smiled at him, before facing Rufus who had a wicked grin on his face. Her face quickly returned to its normal state in a fight, serious and concentrated, "Open! Gate of the Twins! Gemini!"

The alien like creatures appeared, "Lucy, what do you want us to do?"

"Imitate Takumi please," she requested, smiling at Takumi. Gemini did so, and Takumi blinked. It was weird seeing himself, not in a reflection.

"Do you want me to tell you Takumi-sama's thoughts too?"

"No!" Takumi burst out quickly, eyes wide. He calmed down and smiled icily, "That would be unnecessary, thank you Gemini."

"Imitation magic," Rufus raised a blonde brow. "Interesting."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "_Interesting. _Is that all you have to say?"

"You shouldn't let your guard down," Gemini-Takumi scolded.

"That is so creepy," Real Takumi observed from inside the rune. "Gemini, she's safe with you?!"

"Of course, Takumi-sama."

Takumi sighed in defeat and nodded, "Thanks."

"Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's Punch!" Lucy aimed a punch at Rufus but he deflected it and sent Lucy to the other side of the library.

"Spirit Dragon Slayer Slayer's Roar!"

"Spirit Dragon Slayer's Roar!" Both Takumi and Lucy bellowed, the blue shooting out of their mouths. The roar spiralled towards Rufus who tipped his head and paused.

He muttered, "Forget."

The roars disappeared. Lucy blinked surprised, she'd forgotten he could do that, but with 2 attacks?

At the audience stands, Max eyed Lucy and Takumi worriedly, "Master Mavis, what are the chances of Lucy defeating Rufus?"

"43%," Mavis answered coolly. She didn't react when the others gaped beside her.

"That's really low!" Warren said without thinking. Vjeeter glared at him, as did the Exceeds.

"How's she going to do that?" Laki questioned, "I believe she can, but if the chances aren't in her favour..."

"43%!" Happy repeated, not believing it. "But she's so strong now!"

"But," Mavis started. The guild quietened immediately. She continued, smiling slightly, "With Takumi there, her chance increases by 50%."

"93%!?" Carla exclaimed. Wendy cocked her head, not quite understanding what was going on. It seemed obvious to her that with Takumi there, Lucy would be better, they were nakama.

"What?"

"How?"

"It's _love_," Mirajane beamed at Mavis, and she returned the smile.

"Aha!" Lucy shouted triumphantly. "You reacted slower!"

Rufus's eyes widened but he remained calm, "That is nothing but an act of choice. Flood of Impending Shadows!"

Black water rushed towards Lucy who whipped out a key and held it against the water. The black stopped where it was, barely touching the edge of the golden key. With her left hand, the one not being used, she pulled out 5 other keys, 2 silver and 3 gold.

"Open! Gates of the Water Bearer, Scorpion, Chisel, Canis Major, Lion and Ram! Aquarius, Scorpio, Caelum, Castle, Loke and Aries!" Lucy announced.

Her spirits appeared, saying their greetings, all except for Aquarius who drove away the water and then huffed angrily.

"Again?" she shrieked, lifting her urn, "How often do you depend on me?"

"Less than Caelum or Castle, that's for sure," Lucy muttered, petting Castle on the head. The large grey dog rubbed it's head against her foot affectionately. She giggled happily.

A pulse throbbed in Aquarius's head, "What do you want?" the blue-haired mermaid snapped angrily.

"Well, he just said Celestial Spirits are overrated," she pointed at the shocked blonde.

"My memory has no recollection of ever saying that," Rufus said stoically.

"And now he's lying!" Lucy gasped dramatically, pointing again at the offender.

Takumi, from inside the rune, rolled his ice blue eyes and spoke, "Stop joking around, Luce."

Lucy grudgingly obeyed and told her spirits to form a circle around Rufus. When they were all in the position (after a lot of snarky comments from Aquarius and Gemini-Takumi. Gemini was playing it's role _too_ well), Lucy counted down from 3.

"Now."

"Tidal Wave!" Aquarius shot water from her urn. "Celestial Spirits are overrated, huh? _I'LL SHOW YOU__!"_

"Sand Spear!" Scorpio threw a thin beam of sand at Rufus from his stinger.

Castle leapt at him.

"Lion Beam!" Loke got ready.

"Wool Bomb!" Aries shouted nervously. "I hope this is good enough, Lucy-san."

"Spirit Dragon Slayer's Bullets!" Gemini-Takumi yelled, blue shooting out from his fingertips.

Rufus squeezed his eyes shut, "Me...morize," he struggled. When the attacks were about to hit him, he spoke, "For...get."

The spirits disappeared into thin air. But Lucy had gone.

"Where the hell are you?" Takumi shouted. "Lucy!"

His shout was met with silence. Takumi waited for seconds, hoping for a response, but it never came.

Takumi stood up slowly, shaking with rage, "You..."

"You should remember it," Rufus replied calmly. "You can't win against me. Fairy Tail can't win against Sabertooth."

A battle cry was heard, a high-pitched cry. Rufus and Takumi covered their ears, the keening noise was still echoing. Lucy jumped down from above, still holding Caelum. She sliced Rufus down, much to the latter's shock.

"You weren't supposed to..." he fell back, blood escaping from his wounds. Lucy eyed him on the ground, almost crying.

"You deserve a much worse punishment after what you did to the spirits," she gritted her teeth. "Especially Gemini. They'd just healed too."

She stood there, staring at Rufus, who'd blacked out. Footsteps were heard behind her and she turned her head, hair whipping out.

Takumi was released from the rune, and he walked to Lucy. One tear leaked from her eye.

"How could he do that?" she questioned Takumi. "He just destroyed real people! They dissipated, they disappeared! Aquarius is never going to forgive me..."

Takumi wrapped his arms around her waist, "I'm sorry. I'm _so _sorry." He'd never felt more pitiful in his life. Not even when his dragon left. "I promised Master Mavis I would help, and I didn't and"-

"It's fine," Lucy cut him off. "It's not your fault. It's Sabertooth's." Her temper flared but she took a deep breath, and stayed quiet.

"About that," Takumi's expression changed. He smiled at her slightly, "Aren't you supposed to collect your prize?"

Lucy smiled back and reluctantly stepped back from the hug. She knelt down next to Rufus and slid his hat off. She put the red and gold hat on and tipped it slightly to adjust it.

"It looks good," Takumi told her, "Really good." But before Lucy pointed out he was behaving weird he added, "You're too short though, the hat's too big."

Lucy shrugged indifferently, the pink feathers falling down her back.

"It's itchy."

They both laughed, walking out of the library. As soon as they'd left, Rufus opened his eyes and hummed thoughtfully, "I see..."

Lucy and Takumi walked relaxed towards the town's fountain. It was quiet, and as far as Takumi could tell, there were no signs of other mages near.

"Hey, Kumi!" Lucy began eagerly. "I saw 2 books back there and they looked awesome! Like, one"-

"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled. "I'll get them for you tomorrow."

"Thanks!" she cheered happily.

**This chapter is so long! 2,000+ words and I usually write chapters less than 1,000...**

**Please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Scores:**

**Lamia Scale: 1 leader, 2 members. 7pt, 1st**

**Fairy Tail: 1 leader, 4 members. 5pt, 2nd**

**Sabertooth: 1 leader, 3 members. 5pt, 2nd.**

**Mermaid Heel: 1 leader, 1 member. 2pt, 4th**

**Blue Pegasus: 0 leader, 0 members. 2pt, 4th**

**Quatro Cerberus: 0 leader, 0 members. 0pt, 6th**

"Did you expect it?" Orga asked Laxus. "A Lightning God Slayer, one that can kill gods."

Laxus smirked, "Just because you can slay gods doesn't mean you have what it takes to defeat a fairy."

"Says the one hiding on top a building," Orga retorted angrily. He scoffed, "You're more like a chicken."

"Enough talk," Jura interrupted solemnly. "Come." He gestured.

Orga energetically rushed toward Jura, "Lightning God Slayer's Charged Particle Cannon!"

Jura jumped to the side just in time for the attack to completely obliterate the building behind him. While the audience stared in shock at the attack, Orga got ready and ran again to Jura.

Jura swiftly punched him across the face, "Earth Spike." A sharp, jagged rock appeared from the ground, stabbing Orga in the back.

"Well that was quick," Laxus's shoulders heaved from silent laughter. "After he was boasting and bragging."

"What's the chances of Laxus winning?" Reedus asked Master Mavis. "Is it low?"

"50%," was her short answer.

"Wouldn't there be another person more suitable?" Warren asked.

Mavis laughed, "Do you think just _anyone _could defeat Jura? Laxus is the most capable participant."

Laxus leapt down from the building and stared at Jura. Without warning, he dropped his cloak and rushed forward, using his lightning to boost his speed. The boost didn't help, as Jura chopped his head to the ground. Laxus's face crushed to the floor.

"In this world, there will always be someone stronger," Jura quoted, but was punched up the chin by Laxus, much to his surprise.

"In this battle, we are simply 2 men, battling," Laxus's eyes stormed, "You are not a Wizard Saint, and I am not my grandfather's grandson."

* * *

"Erza will walk to Kagura," Mavis instructed. Erza did as ordered and, as predicted, there stood Kagura. She held her Archenemy sheath in one hand, other hand over the handle.

"I was aware I'd meet you here," Kagura walked up. "And I've been informed you've had some ties with Jellal Fernandes."

"Why are you so interested?" Erza asked. Her eyes widened at the next phrase.

"Jellal Fernandes ruined my life."

* * *

"Apparently, we're supposed to wait here for 10 minutes more," Takumi raised a brow. 10 minutes was a long time, even Lucy thought so.

"It feels like an hour," Lucy groaned unhappily.

"Here," Takumi said, holding his hand out. Blue spiralled from his hands to Lucy's.

"Spirit?" Lucy jumped up from a bench. "Thanks Kumi!"

"Only because of before..." Takumi looked away. A light blush coated his cheeks. "And don't call me that!"

Lucy giggled and lay back down on the bench, playing with her keys, "How much longer do we have to wait?"

Takumi sighed tiredly, "9 minutes and a half."

Lucy hummed and traced Castle's key with her hand.

"What about now?"

* * *

"Gajeel-san," Rogue spoke under his breath.

"Sabertooth," Gajeel acknowledged. He stared at Rogue from across the street. Suddenly he lashed out and attacked, Rogue crushing into the shop behind and being hit by Iron Dragon's Club. Surprised, Rogue stood up.

"There is no way you could beat me in one day," Gajeel growled. "If you and your blonde buddy couldn't defeat Salamander, there is no way you alone could surpass _me_."

"Natsu Dragneel's power exceeds yours," Rogue stated.

"What?" Gajeel snarled.

Rogue sank to the ground, exhausted, "I finally understand why you chose Fairy Tail." He closed his eyes, "Friendship." Rogue revealed, "When I was a kid, I wanted to join Phantom Lord, because you were there. And then Phantom Lord disbanded and I was surprised when you joined Fairy Tail. Because of friendship. Something like that does not exist is Sabertooth."

"Get up."

Rogue's eyes widened in shock and he looked up at Gajeel.

"Don't you consider your cat a friend?" Gajeel questioned.

Rogue stood up quickly, "Frosch is an exceed!"

Gajeel waved it off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Yeah, I do," Rogue admitted. He looked to the ground, and to his surprise, saw his shadow moving, merging with himself, _Rogue..._

_Annihilate Gajeel Redfox._

* * *

"Hey you," Minerva called. "Redhead."

"It's scarlet," Erza said defensively. "What do you want, Sabertooth?"

"Where's your blonde bitch?"

"Blonde Bit-Lucy?" Erza questioned. "Why?"

"Why is Minerva there?" Mavis was alarmed, "This wasn't planned!"

"The bitch needs to be taught a lesson!" Minerva proclaimed. "I will teach her."

Erza sent a blast of fire using her Fire Empress Armour toward her, momentarily forgetting about Kagura, _She wasn't supposed to fight me or Lucy. Takumi was..._

Minerva dispelled the attack and stopped.

Erza stood in front of her.

"If you want to fight Lucy, you'll have to get past me first."

* * *

"Get up, Luce," Takumi's voice was edgy.

"Why?" Lucy whined. She'd finally stopped asking and now he asked her to get up?

A sound of a throat clearing was heard. Lucy immediately stood up, facing Lyon and Chelia.

Lucy smirked, "Yo." She saluted, then turned serious.

"It's looks like you're our next opponents," Lyon nodded. "This will be interesting."

Chelia stared off into space, "A Lost Magic and a development."

"Development," Lucy huffed. "That's all I am?"

Takumi laughed, "_I'm _the one with Lost Magic!" he teased her.

"Ice Make Snow Dragon!" An ice dragon erupted from the ground and Lyon smirked, "They're down."

"He counted his chickens before they hatched," Lucy swiped a wave of Spirit at the dragon. "This battle's only begun."

**This chapter was just to basically introduce the battles, so there wasn't really much description. I'll make sure to do more in the next! I promise!**


	20. Chapter 20

**HI! So description is actually quite fun to write, though I try to avoid repeating words.**

"Spirit Dragon Slayer's Wing Slash!" Takumi moved his arms, Spirit forming around them. He slammed them down, the Spirit caving in on Lyon. Lyon's eyes widened and he smashed his fist against his palm, quickly saying the chant for his spell.

"Ice Make: Butterfly!"

A large butterfly formed, wings spreading and acting as a shield for him. The Spirit broke through the butterfly but faded away before it could touch Lyon. Takumi snarled in annoyance and his arm went up to the keyring that was attached to an band around his upper arm. Grabbing a random key, he held onto it but let Lucy do her attack fist. He watched as Lucy's hand lingered above her keyring. She had to be particularly selective, because most of her spirits had their magic depleted. She shook her head to get rid of the worrying thoughts and snatched a key.

"Open! The Gate of the Wolf! Lupus!" Lucy called, pointing the silver key toward Chelia. A wolf, midnight black with purple eyes, leapt out of the key, scratching Chelia and biting her arm. Chelia let out a childish shriek in pain but Lyon sent the wolf flying backwards with a punch. Seeing the wolf, Takumi pocketed the key he had out, confident in Lucy's abilities.

The wolf landed on its feet but skidded on the grass, growling angrily. Lupus was one of Lucy's spirits, they had recently formed a contract, but Lucy had grown to like the dark wolf. She was mysterious, and didn't complain much. Not like Aquarius anyway, Lucy grumbled incoherently about the snarky mermaid before remembering the main reason she had called for the wolf.

"Lupus," Lucy commanded, eyes cold. "Now."

Lupus let out a loud howl, ringing in everyone's ears. The howl seemed to go on forever, but in reality, it only lasted 10 seconds. Takumi and Lucy seemed immune to the effect but it had the worst effect on Lyon and Chelia since they both froze up, shocked.

"What happened?" Chapati yelled, blocking his ears. "Lamia Scale's Lyon and Chelia have been paralyzed?"

Lucy and Takumi smirked at each other. Lupus let out a deep vibration of pride, large canines poking out, seeming as if she were grinning.

* * *

"How about we strike up a deal instead?" Minerva tried negotiating. Erza's eyes narrowed and she stared at her suspiciously.

"Name your price."

"You two," she gestured at Kagura and Erza lowly, "fight, and if you beat her," she turned to Kagura, "I go away and find that blonde. If you crush her," she told Erza, "I'll fight you."

Erza considered while Kagura got impatient, "Hurry up, you fool. Just say yes." Kagura wasn't interested at all, she just wanted to defeat the redhead who claimed to know that damned Jellal Fernandes well.

Erza ignored Kagura and continued thinking. Minerva tapped her foot rhythmically against the concrete pavement, creating a noise similar to one of a clocks. Erza gritted her teeth at the consistent, neverending beat.

_Tick_

_Tock_

Erza's eyes widened, the tapping was starting to get faster, louder, hurrying her, like the tapping speed in a horror movie, before someone dies.

_Tick_

She shook her head, this was no time to be melodramatic. She had to make her decision now, or Mavis's plan would go out of whack. More than it was now.

_Tock_

"Deal."

"Good," Minerva smiled in anticipation. "I bought a stray kitty for this event." In her substance was Milliana, wincing in pain. "Just to make this more serious."

Erza's and Kagura's faces went dark as they glared murderously at Minerva.

"Those are the expressions I wanted to see," Minerva grinned and licked her lips.

* * *

Gajeel was blown back from the power of Rogue's Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic.

_My power is now merged with Rogue's..._

"W-What happened? Who are you?" Gajeel questioned, coughing up blood. Possessed Rogue smiled sadistically, shadows enveloping his already dark form, making him appear more sinister than original.

_I am the shadow that controls fate!_

Rogue rushed to Gajeel, but he attempted to counterattack with Iron Dragon's Sword. However, it was too no avail as Rogue dematerialised and became a shadow, seeping through the air. Flowing smoothly, he flew to Gajeel, and much to the latter's annoyance, he couldn't cut Rogue, as when he attemped to, the shadow divided and the formed again.

_Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!_

Shadow Rogue wrapped himself around Gajeel and generated shadow from his hands. Gajeel was sent flying back, shouting angrily and swearing. Levy hugged Pantherlily tightly, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Rogue," Frosch said worriedly. "What's happening?"

Rogue turned back into normal, _Shadow Dragon's Slash!_

Gajeel tried to defend himself, but kept on getting hit by Rogue. Frosch, now extremely worried, escaped from his guild's stands and ran down to the arena, going to try stopping Rogue.

"W-what?" Mavis's pupils dilated in shock, or horror as she stared up at the vision lacrima, "I-I've never seen a m-magic like this!"

By now, Rogue was holding Gajeel around the neck, thumbs pressing down on the skin, while covering him in shadows.

_I knew it, you weren't as strong as the Salamander. However, even he wouldn't be capable of defeating me in this form... No one is able!_

"Oh you'll regret saying that," Gajeel smirked his signature grin. He inhaled deeply and grabbed onto the darkness, stuffing it into his mouth and he swallowed the shadows, albeit with some difficulty. Shadow erupted from him and his magical aura turned darker.

Levy began, shocked, "He's!"-

"A Shadow Iron Dragon Slayer," Natsu finished grimly. Others looked at him and took a double take at a -surprisingly- serious Natsu. Lisanna opened to ask him what was wrong but he then stomped childishly and pouted, "No way! That was my trick!"

* * *

**Scores:**

**Fairy Tail: 1 leader, 4 members. 40pt, 1st**

**Sabertooth: 1 leader, 2 members. 35pt, 2nd**

******Lamia Scale: 1 leader, 2 members. 26pt, 3rd**

**Blue Pegasus: 0 leader, 0 members. 25pt, 4th**

**Mermaid Heel: 1 leader, 1 member. 21pt, 5th**

**Quatro Cerberus: 0 leader, 0 members. 15pt, 6th**

* * *

**(Call me horrible, but I didn't want to write the fight scene between Erza and Kagura. Before anyone flips a table and says I was lazy, or something like that, let me explain. I wasn't being lazy -not really- I just felt like I wouldn't be doing the scene justice and plus, in the manga it was quite complicated and messy. So don't throw things at me. I promise to write Minerva vs Erza, I'm not that bad.)**

"I am Simon's sister," Kagura told Erza. "As a child, we were not rich, but we were content. And then one day, the child hunt came. Simon was taken, but I had been hidden. I spent years looking for him, only to find Milliana and find out that he'd been killed. Jellal killed my brother... He ruined my life!"

"It was not Jellal's fault," Erza interrupted. "It was of my own weakness that Simon died."

Choking on her sobs, and hearing her heart beat louder and louder, faster and faster, Kagura ripped out her sword from the sheath. She aimed it straight at Erza, before swinging it and destroying some structures around them.

She looked down, and much to her shock, Erza had blocked it. Tears fell down from her eyes.

The air around Erza began to glow as she requipped, "This life was entrusted to me by Simon... by Grandpa Rob... and my nakama... Relinquishing my life so easily would be a slap in the face to all of them."

She slashed Kagura, but she quickly regained stability.

"Watch out!" Erza shouted just as a pillar came crashing down on Kagura. Erza rushed and managed to push her out of the way, but had gotten stuck in the process.

Kagura's eyes were big in confusion, "Why?"

"I came from the same village as you and Simon did," Erza was quiet. She strengthened her voice, "Rosemary Village."

Kagura's lips parted slightly.

_I was so alone, running through the village. _

_"Simon-nii!" I called out, "Simon-nii!"_

_Why was everybody screaming? Why were those men taking my neighbours, my friends? Where was Simon-nii?_

_There was a girl in front of me, she had short red hair. She smiled and gestured for me to come to her. Crying, I did so._

_Hugging, we ran until we found a box._

_"Shh," she held her hands up to her mouth. "Don't make a sound, okay? Don't come out until later."_

_I nodded frantically. She started to close the lid._

_"Where are you going, Nee-san?" I asked. She never replied._

_When I came out, Simon, and the girl, had gone._

"You were that girl!" Kagura proclaimed, tears falling out of her eyes. "Sorry... I need a little time..."

She kneeled down and lifted the boulder from Erza's foot, "Thanks you..."

"Enough."

Kagura let out a bloodcurdling scream, looking down at her body and seeing her clothes moist with blood, impaled with a sword.

"It was getting boring anyway," Minerva rolled her eyes. "6 points for me."

"6 points?" Erza raised a brow.

"I destroyed that kitten while you two were fighting."

"You bitch..." Erza snarled.

Minerva grinned, "This is getting interesting."

* * *

Jura made earth spikes from the ground, knocking Laxus to the air. The young lightning mage couldn't shield himself from the attack and was sent flying. Laxus created a lightning spear with his hands, and using a lot of strength, hurled it at Jura, "Lightning Dragon Slayer's Heaven Halberd!"

Jura, using his usual hand movement, commanded earth pillars to erupt from the ground, blocking the attack from hitting him. Once it had landed, Jura removed the shield and met with Laxus's fist.

Another pillar jutted out from the floor, hitting Laxus's head. Laxus gritted his teeth, and used his lightning body to yet again, punch Jura. Pillar after pillar erected from the ground, but none of them hit Laxus and after a while, Jura gave up, simply using physical strength on Laxus. Punch after punch was thrown, Laxus, much to the surprise of the crowd, matching Jura evenly.

Makarov smiled proudly but Mavis frowned, "You did not expect him to be so strong," she observed.

Makarov and the others blinked.

"The youth will always grow up," Mavis said wisely, just as Laxus sent an explosion of lightning Jura's way.

As the dust of the attack faded away, Jura stated, "I haven't felt this excited in years."

Laxus remained stoic, "I'm all fired up."

Natsu yelled angrily, "What is with people stealing my things!?"

* * *

"Hurry up," Takumi was still focused. "The shock'll wear off soon."

"Thanks Lupus," Lucy thanked the cool wolf, "You can go back now." The wolf nodded, and disappeared in thousands of gold sparkly specks. Lucy kneeled over Chelia and put her hands over the young girl. Spirit burst from her hands and shot toward the little girl, covering her in scratches and bruises. Over with Lyon, Takumi did the same.

"There we go," Lucy dusted her hands off on her skirt. "That's 2 points for us." Takumi grinned alongside her and they walked away from the two bodies. "So..." Lucy began. "Where to next?"

"You didn't even pay attention to Master Mavis, did you?" Takumi rolled his eyes.

Lucy shook her head and argued, "I did but...then she said you'd be with me and I kinda dozed off." Takumi laughed, and she joined in. They walked past buildings and Lucy peered inside a clothing store.

Takumi smirked, "Who needs a brain when you've got your own _personal _Takumi?" Lucy flushed at the mention of 'personal.'

She shot back, "Are you saying I don't have a brain?"

"I don't know, maybe?" he shrugged carelessly.

She frowned and stomped on his foot, making him wince, "Back to the main point, where do we go now?"

Takumi opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted.

"Not so fast," Chelia's voice came from behind them. They turned around, shocked. A fully-healed Chelia and a currently healing Lyon were standing, wiping their brows. "You're good," Chelia congratulated. She zoned out, "Maybe this is the power of love?"

Mirajane leaned against the bars, hands around her mouth, and yelled delightedly, "Yeah, exactly! The power of _LOVE_!"

Takumi and Lucy blushed bright red and glared at the floor angrily, _Mira..._

"Sky God Slayer's Bellow!" Snapping them back to attention, Chelia roared and got lifted up in the air from the wind. The black air headed toward Lucy, who closed her eyes, only to get pushed to the ground.

"Oof!" Lucy landed on the grass, Takumi on top of her, and his two hands on the grass both sides of her were the only thing stopping him from crushing her. She wouldn't have minded him landing on her (he wasn't _that _heavy), she would've actually preferred it. Anything to avoid the meeting of their eyes and the awkward scramble to their feet.

"S-sorry," Takumi nervously apologised.

Lucy waved her hands in front of her, "I-it's fine, at least I didn't get hit by that, r-right?" she giggled timidly.

"W-well, yeah," he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Pay attention!" she shrieked, practically tackling him down, letting Takumi evade all the Ice Eagles sent his way by Lyon. To avoid the earlier awkwardness, Lucy rolled off him and grabbed a key from her ring and chanted, "Open! Gate of the Water Serpent! Hydra!"

A lady appeared, elegant and dressed in a gown made of green scales. She had brown hair that tumbled down her shoulders, and she completed the look with a few green and black clips.

"Lady Lucy," she greeted. "Takumi-sama."

"Hydra!" Lucy cried out, relieved.

Hydra nodded, "I see Aquarius was defeated." She smirked sophistically, "She was lacking power, I informed her so before she came down."

"That's why she was in a bad mood!" Lucy connected the dots.

The brunette shrugged, "Refrain from yelling, Lucy, for it may turn Takumi-sama off you."

This, of, course, made Lucy yell louder, "Hydra!"

"Yes, that_ is_ my name," Hydra agreed. "There is no point yelling at me about it, my sister has already gotten that nailed. She really must stop admiring that _fish_." She said _fish, _in a disgusted manner, but Lucy was used to it. Aquarius and Hydra had a rivalry going on, and they had told her the story before, but both had differences, and all Lucy could remember about it was that Scorpio was a big part in it. Their personalities weren't very different, they were both snarky and sarcastic, but Aquarius's was much more obvious, while Hydra's was the 'polite' kind of rude,

"Hydra," Takumi muttered, a small blush on his cheeks, no doubt from what she'd said earlier.

"Anyway," Hydra changed the topic. "What did you call me for?"

"Those two," she gestured to Lyon and Chelia, "Beat them."

"Very well," Hydra agreed. She put a fist to her palm, "Water Make..."

**SURPRISE! I'm back! There we go... an extremely long chapter. Review! I don't really care about the length, just write anything down there, if you liked it, what you liked, unicorns...**


	21. Chapter 21

**I got translations from Google Translate, so authenticity is questionable. Translations are in Latin, unless specified, coz I felt like it :P**

"Water Make: Vines!" Vines twirled their way, quickly and swiftly.

"She's a Molder Mage!" Lyon shouted in advance, yanking Chelia away from Hydra's line of attack. Hydra smiled, as if she was planning something. Lyon's eyes narrowed, suspicious.

_Lyon-sama, _Chelia thought lovingly, _he cares enough to take me away from harm._

Hydra's hands fidgeted and she ripped off her black and green lace gloves. Lucy looked at her questioningly and realisation dawned on Takumi's face. He swore under his breath, _Luce, what are you thinking, letting her use a spell like that? Oh god, please don't sue us, Magic Council. Screw it, I'm sure they will anyway._

"_In __Abscondita, Ascendo **(The Hidden, rise)**_," Hydra muttered, her hands slowly raising. She stared at Lyon and Chelia, who shivered, and then she slammed her hands in the direction of them. Water flared up from the earth, breaking ground and destroying everything around it. It threw Lyon and Chelia up in the air, Chelia squealing in fright and pain.

"Ice Make"-

"_Cado_ **(_Fall_)**," Hydra ordered, and the water came crashing down, weaving and piercing at the Lamia Scale mages as they fell back down.

Lucy looked amazed, "Where'd she get all the water from?" Takumi sighed and shook head.

"I got the water from the pipes under the town," Hydra replied primly. "If Aquarius had used her brain, they may have had a use to her." She reconsidered thoughtfully, "But then again, she has a brain the size of a fish's."

Aquarius's key glowed brightly and Lucy winced, "Wow, she should watch her language."

Lyon and Chelia were already covered in deep scrapes, blood seeping out, on the verge of passing out. They were very weak, struggling to even lift their hands. But that was covered, as Chelia had already started healing herself and Lyon.

"Hmm," Hydra hummed thoughtfully. "I'm afraid if the young one can heal herself against one of my strongest attacks, I cannot do anything to her. condolences. I will be taking my leave now, Miss Lucy, Takumi-sama." Lucy's eyes widened in utter disbelief as Hydra returned to the Spirit Realm.

"You heard her, right?" Takumi asked, grinning.

"Why are you smiling?" Lucy asked, slouching unhappily. "What am I going to do now? And yes, I did hear what she said."

"If she keeps on getting up," Takumi sighed. "We have to ensure she doesn't get up. And if we can beat both of them at the same time, that'd be a bonus." Chelia and Lyon sweatdropped, the two had completely forgotten they were there.

Lucy's mouth was wide, and she looked at Takumi in a worshipping manner, "For her not to get up"-

"We'll have to beat them with our strongest attack," Takumi finished. They both smirked.

* * *

_Shadow and Iron are now fused! How is this possible?_

Gajeel appeared behind him, "Iron Dragon Slayer's Club!" The slayer transformed his hand into a club and hit Rogue with it, "Your real name was Ryos **(Raios?).** You didn't look up to me"-

Rogue's face turned into one of shock.

"You _feared _me."

Rogue changed into a shadow and began chasing Gajeel, who, while smirking, playfully ran too. Suddenly, he stopped and Rogue ran into him in surprise. Gajeel yanked Rogue out of the shadow and flung him into a building, it collapsing on contact.

_This Gajeel is unknown to me..._

Gajeel was at his side, punching him in a flurry of movements, finally finishing of with his roar. He watched as the shadow ran away from Rogue's body, wondering what it was.

"Rogue!" Frosch tottered in front of him, its hands out in a protective manner. "Don't hurt him anymore, please."

"Don't worry," Gajeel replied gruffly. "This battle is over."

* * *

**Scores:**

**Fairy Tail: 1 leader, 4 members. 41pt, 1st**

**Sabertooth: 1 leader, 1 member. 41pt, 1st**

**Lamia Scale: 1 leader, 2 members. 26pt, 3rd**

**Blue Pegasus: 0 leader, 0 members. 25pt, 4th**

**Mermaid Heel: 0 leader, 0 members. 21pt, 5th**

**Quatro Cerberus: 0 leader, 0 members. 15pt, 6th**

* * *

Minerva leered, "I said I would fight you, only if _you _defeated the Mermaid's Leader. However, you did no such thing."

"You sly tiger," Erza growled angrily. Her childhood friend was cut down by this... monster and now she wouldn't even live up to her promises? Oh, she would. Erza would _make _her.

Minerva disappeared.

_Crap, she used her magic, _Erza thought. She decided to work practically_, If Minerva was supposed to meet Takumi at Square 34, that would be soon. Lucy will be there too, so I better get going now._

She requipped into Soaring Armour and set off.

* * *

"No keys," Takumi told Lucy, who was already shuffling through her collection hurriedly, trying to find the right one, rarely muttering curses. Her head lifted immediately wwhen she heard what he'd said.

"Huh?" she was shocked, "But that key"-

"Will be used later. It's in the contract you can't use it unless absolutely needed," he pointed out. "They specifically said." Lucy's eyes widened in realization, and she stuttered. He continued, "Anyway, we have to do something else."

"You can't possibly mean"-

"Oh, I _mean _it," Takumi grinned. At Lucy's worried look he reassured her, "You can do it."

"It's just that... Gemini's always doing it and I"-

"You can do it," Takumi repeated, firmly and forcefully. Lucy blushed, embarrassed. Takumi looked at her questioningly.

Lucy giggled nervously, "I forgot the enchantment." Takumi glared at her. Lucy blinked, "I know you said never to, but I thought Gamini would always and...yeah."

Takumi sighed and whispered something into her ear, occasionally repeating words and sending waves of Spirit in Lyon and Chelia's direction. "Got it?"

Lucy mumbled some words under her breath, "Uhh, sure!"

Takumi eyed her uncertainly, "Tell you what, I'll help you, kay?" Lucy raised a brow.

"How?"

Takumi flushed, "I can boost your magic by having contact with your hands." Lucy raised a brow and Takumi stumbled, "With my hands."

Mirajane squealed loudly, ecstatic, "Finally! Some actual action!"

Lucy looked at him, ignoring Mira, unsure, "You'll be okay with that?"

He nodded, "I'll be fine, Luce."

She smiled slightly, "I didn't mean it like that, Kumi."

He sniffed, "I'm still not over that, you know. That nickname..."

She quickly shook her head and pointed at Chelia and Lyon. They were getting ready, perhaps for their final attack, but Lucy hurried Takumi.

"Come on, now!"

They held hands, both blushing, but then had determined looks in their eyes. Lucy took a deep breath and started her enchantment,

_"Survey the Heaven, Open the Heaven..._  
_All the stars, far and wide..._  
_Show me thy appearance..._  
_With such shine._  
_O Tetrabiblos... _  
_I am the ruler of the stars..._  
_Aspect became complete..._  
_Open thy malevolent gate._  
_O 88 Stars of the heaven... _  
_Shine!_  
_**Urano Metria!**"_

The planets stretched out across the park that they were in, illuminating it with bright colours.

Takumi exerted his magic power,

_Spirits hear my cry!  
__Summon you from the other side  
__Come to me  
__And cross the great divide*  
Listen! Combine!  
__Airtem Onaru!**__"_

They gripped onto each others hands harder and concentrated, wind suddenly whipping hair around.

"Unison Raid!"

The planets exploded, Spirit flooding through like darkness. The view was spectacular, almost like fireworks. In fact, Takumi and Lucy mentally made connections about a couple days back. When it had subsided, however, Lyon and Chelia were on the floor, knocked out.

"With that awesome move, Lamia Scale's Lyon and Chelia are out!" Mato shouted.

Lahar observed, shocked, "I have never felt that much magic pressure before. Not even a Wizard Saint..."

Takumi and Lucy hi-fived, smiling relieved smiles.

"Great job Luce," Takumi told her. Lucy grinned in pride.

"Great," a voice was heard. "Now you can fight me."

Minerva grinned from the shadows.

**_*I got this from a site_**

**_**Before any random people start bitching about how unoriginal reversing the letters of Urano Metria was, I AM aware I did it. And I was just being lazy._**

**_SHORT CHAP because the next one's gonna be a long one._**


	22. Chapter 22

**It's been ages, I know. But with this chapter, it is the end of the GMG! Finally, right? This chapter is based on Minerva's and _'s fight so the Laxus vs Jura isn't appearing fully because that would just be too much badass for one chapter. **

**Wanna know who _ is? Read on to find out! (Oh god, I sound like an ad...)**

"Minerva?" Lucy was shocked. "You were supposed to be at Square 34!"

Takumi elbowed Lucy quickly, shutting her up but he was thinking the same thing, _What went wrong? Did our fight go on for too long_? _No, it couldn't have, we were rushing. Sort of._

_"_I have no idea what you are talking about," Minerva answered the comment calmly. "But the only reason I'm here is to defeat _you__," _she teleported Lucy to her side and kicked her to the ground, "And regain my title as the War God; she who never forgives."

Lucy stood up and spat, "I was never one for titles, what were they to determine one's strength? I don't have one and I beat you," she added, angering Minerva more, "_bad."_

"We were out of time," Minerva was still serene, however her eyebrow had twitched, signifying her true anger.

"Keep telling yourself that," Lucy shrugged. "No one will believe your excuse when I do it a second time."

Minerva sent an explosion at Lucy's bare stomach, making her fall down again, much to the victim's pain and Takumi's outrage, "Hey, bitch, your fight's with me!"

Minerva smiled thinly, her calculating eyes observing him, "You have certain..._feelings _for blondie here, yes?" She watched as Takumi opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. She grinned, "Then I wonder... How much it will hurt you if I _tortured _her?"

"Don't!" Takumi yelled just as Lucy let out another scream. _Shit._

Minerva leaned over Lucy, "I see." Lucy glared at her and attempted to stomp on her foot. Minerva sidestepped it, frowning. "You're"-

Lucy opened her mouth, striking Minerva with an attack but when it had gone, Minerva was left uninjured. Takumi and Lucy stared in horror. Takumi shouted angrily, "You... Spirit Dragon Slayer's Knee Attack!" Takumi kneed Minerva with Spirit, but Minerva simply shoved him away.

"You're the leader aren't you?" Minerva asked Lucy. "The leader of Team Fairy Tail... is_ you_."

Lucy shook her head in protest. Minerva kicked her again, "The truth. Why would they choose you? You are the weakest, youngest of them all. Why?" She repeated.

"Get off me," Lucy choked out, "Bitch."

* * *

"Where'd they go?" Erza looked around. The area was completely bare except for Bacchus's, Yuka's and Toby's body on the side of the lane. She blinked surprised, _they're supposed to be here by now._

She shrugged, "I'll go to Square 12."

* * *

"Open! The Gate of the River! Eridanus!" Takumi yelled. A slender man appeared with brown hair and eyes.

Lucy blinked, surprised, "Is that the key you never showed me?" She then asked the obvious question, 'What does he do?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," the young man winked. _Well, he looks young_, Lucy considered,_ but he is immortal, since he is a spirit._

"Technically yes," The man intervened. At Lucy's bewildered look he went on, "How about I start from the beginning, yeah? I am Eridanus, or Dan for short. My magic is Fear."

"Huh?" Lucy raised a brow. "What's that?"

Dan smirked, "I'll show you."

Takumi shouted, "Now!" Dan rushed forward to Minerva who attempted to swat him away. It failed and Dan attacked her with a flurry of kicks and punches. However, as soon as his hit touched her skin, he was transported 10 metres away from her. Dan's earth brown eyes began to glow a demonic red.

"Fear: Level 5."

Minerva stood, zoned out for seconds. As Lucy watched entranced, Minerva slowly regained her senses, shaking her head and grinning.

"What?" Dan spluttered. "That's enough for normal people to shit their pants."

"Crude as always," Takumi muttered under his breath. "Unbelievable." Dan smirked and shrugged easily. He focused again at the leader of Sabertooth.

"Fear: Level 10." Minerva froze yet again. Dan smiled at Lucy, "That should keep her occupied. My magic is Fear, formally known as River of Fear. It's a sort of Illusion Magic, except I can measure the levels of fear. She's frozen right now, but after the illusion's over, she will fall. And I can read minds."

"Unfortunately," Takumi mumbled, causing Lucy to look at him weirdly. Takumi shook his head.

"Watch out Takumi," Dan elbowed the serious teenager jokingly, "I read minds, I know what you're thinking. I know what you're feeling towards a certain blond"-

Takumi clamped Dan's mouth shut, "Shut up, _Eridanus_. Remember our situation."

"What situation?" He gestured to a frozen Minerva, "She's done for."

Takumi grunted unhappily. That didn't stop Dan from talking, he continued chatting happily, "Anyway, Lucy-chan, did you know that Takumi really, really, really, _really _likes"-

"Done for?" Minerva laughed, "Think twice, dickhead."

Lucy and Dan jumped, Dan getting over it quickly.

"And he calls me crude," Dan rolled his eyes distastefully. "Fear: Level"-

"It won't matter what you throw at me, I'm not afraid of anything. Whatever you do, I will destroy it," Minerva faced Dan. "And by the way, you're magic is practically useless."

Eridanus's anger flared, "Fear: Level 100."

Minerva snarled before her eyes glazed over. This time, Takumi and Lucy stood on guard until Dan called them off, "No ones survived that before. She'll probably start crying and beg for forgiveness or somethin'."

"Who'll start crying?"

* * *

Laxus wiped the blood off his mouth, the metallic taste already invading his mouth.

_Wow, who knew a Wizard Saint would be that powerful? Now, Mavis said that when I was finished with him, I would walk around and eventually find a Sabertooth. So where?_

He chuckled bitterly at the 'boo's he was getting. It wasn't his fault they'd bet on Jura.

* * *

"Erza!" Lucy cried. "What are you doing here?"

Erza was serious, "She was intent on killing you," she pointed to Minerva, "I couldn't let that happen."

"It won't happen," Takumi's eyes were steely, "Not as long as I can help it. She'll be the one going down." Lucy was shocked at his stoicness, but she cheered up immediately.

"Well, she's definitely going to lose with all of us here, right?" Lucy beamed proudly.

"Right," Takumi confirmed, even though his eyes reflected worry. Dan nudged the dark-haired mage slightly, smirking like an idiot. In fact, Takumi even told him that. "You look like an idiot."

"I would be more thankful to the person who saved your ass from the creepy woman," Dan retorted. "She was crazy. And that's coming from me."

"Surprise, surprise," a droning voice was heard, "Creepy woman here." Minerva licked her lips, "3 fairies."

"Oh shit," Dan said, pretending to be scared, however his face was neutral. "It's the woman."

"Why are you so calm?" Lucy questioned. "She just escaped from your strongest spell, didn't she? And you _are _Kumi's strongest key, right?"

"Of the silvers," Takumi piped up.

"Kumi?" Dan sniggered. "Wow, I'm going to use that one." Takumi and Lucy glared at him.

"No way," they both stated. "That's only for me/Lucy."

"How simply adorable," Minerva said. The lead-like substance covered Dan and her, and suddenly, they switched places, Dan 2 metres away from the rest of them and Minerva, unfortunately, 2 centimetres away. She landed an explosion at Lucy's feet.

"Requip: Black Wing Armour!" Erza intoned, light enveloping her. When the light decreased she was in her armour, and flew towards Minerva. She slashed, but the attack only cutting the building behind the Tiger.

Minerva smiled slightly and flicked her wrists, Lucy flying to the sky. All was silent.

And then she fell down.

"Aries, Aries, Aries," Lucy fumbled with a key. She remembered, _damn it! She's injured._

Takumi, Erza and Dan watched as she fell towards the ground, Dan acting on last minute. Takumi directed an attack to Minerva, "Spirit Dragon Slayer's Roar!" The Spirit hurled towards Minerva, and then she wasn't there any more. Lucy was and instead of Lucy falling, Minerva was. Dan already had his hands out, but he just walked away, hands behind his back, whistling an innocent tune. Minerva crushed down to the Earth, Dan smirking in front of her.**  
**

As for Takumi, he watched in horror as the roar rushed to Lucy. Her eyes widened and then she yawned and gulped down the Spirit.

"I forgot you could do that," Takumi sweatdropped.

Lucy laughed, "Years of isolation can do that to a person."

"I wasn't totally alone..." Takumi defended.

Minerva snarled, "Ih Ragdo!"

Bubbles covered the four of them and they imploded, scratches etching onto the mages' skin. Takumi muttered, "Force Closure."

"Wait, I can still help! Wait, you idio"- Dan disappeared completely, leaving golden sparks behind.

"Haven't you noticed?" Minerva said, voice dripping with malice, "My magic is War God Magic, magic that can manipulate space. All the things I can see, I can move, I can destroy!" She laughed.

Lcy and Takumi gripped their keys. Minerva saw this and scoffed, "I will defeat any measly Spirit you summon."

"Requip: Nakagami Armour!" Erza chanted.

Lucy held out a white key, "Open! The Gate of the Time Lord! Celestial Spirit King!"

The ground rumbled, and clouds swirled above Lucy, darkening. Magic power rushed around, and the judges watched in awe as a giant landed on the ground, narrowly missing Lucy. The giant had a large mustache, and was wearing a crown. He had a grin on his face.

Takumi used a blue key, slightly darker than the others, "Open! The Gate of the Cat! Felix!"*****

A woman appeared, with blonde curly hair. She was wearing a headband with cat ears and she was holding a ball of string, "Nya~"

Minerva was still unimpressed, "A giant and a cat-person." She sighed, bored, "This'll be easier than I thought." She put her hands out "Ih"-

"Mustache man!" Lucy exclaimed quickly. "Slow Motion!"

The air around the Minerva slowed down and Lucy ducked, narrowly avoiding the move. Takumi looked at Felix sharply, "Felix, human manipulation!"

Minerva's face slowly contorted into one of shock, "What?" she asked, words coming out slowly.

"You may be able to manipulate space but Mustache Man manipulates time," Lucy's lips curled into a menacing grin.

"Felix can control any living being," Takumi smirked.

Erza was now decked out in her armour, and Levy gasped in realization, "That's the Nakagami Armour! No one has wielded it in a decade, but when it is, the user has the power to manipulate any magic, and break the rules of magic itself."

The members' jaws dropped, "WWWHHHHAAATTT?"

"It doesn't matter," Minerva said, still smiling as if it were a joke, "I can just quadruple my speed."

"And then I can unquadruple it," Lucy justified happily. "I _can _do that." She looked at Minerva smugly, "Not so cocky now, are we?" Minerva glared at the giggling blonde.

Takumi sighed, "Unquadruple isn't a word."

"Shut up."

"Anyway, you won't be able to overcome the human control," Takumi shrugged. "Not with Felix here."

"But see, the thing is," Minerva appeared in his face. She kicked him and Felix, "If I move fast enough, I can avoid it." Her eyes were crazed, or so Lucy thought. Lucy panted heavily, crouching with her hands on her knees.

Takumi cast a worried look at her, "You okay Luce?"

"I will be if you hurried up," she responded.

"Luce, you know you can just send him back and I'll handle her alone. It'll be fi"-

"I can do it," she gritted her teeth. "Maybe if you did it already!?"

Takumi nodded sharply. The Spirit King loomed over Lucy, "Unfortunately, Lucy, you know that calling me out has a price. It causes a large toll on you. I would advise you to close my gate now, as your body may not be able to hold it much longer." He saw Lucy open her mouth and hurried on, "I know you're stubborn, and you'll disagree but before you do, just remember, you hold 10 zodiac key and, quite frankly, you are the best owner they've ever had." He shook his head and corrected himself, "Best friend, I know."

Lucy stared at the mustached man admirably, before her face turned grave, "I know, Mustached man." She ran a hand over her keys, "But I'm going to have to take that chance."

"I understand," he replied. "Please don't overdo it."

She smirked, "Sorry, no promises." Erza and Takumi joined in on her leer.

"We're Fairy Tail mages, after all."

* * *

Gajeel leaned against a building, "So...cat."

"Fro's an Exceed!" Forsch shouted. "Rogue-san said so!"

"Okay... No need to shout," he sweatdropped.

* * *

"Human Manipulation," Felix chanted. The ball of string she was holding unravelled and rushed to Minerva. Minerva ran, dodging it, but instead of it stopping there, the string followed her. Minerva switched places with Erza, the latter blinking but staying perfectly still. The string wrapped around her but before anything could happen, it undid itself and headed toward Minerva.

"Sorry-nya!" Felix shouted. "And thank you!"

"I didn't know you could do that," Takumi's forehead creased.

"No, no, no," she denied furiously. "That was Erza-nyan! She directed it to that Minerva bitch. Yup! That's sounds right! Minerva bitch..."

"King, deduce her speed by 88%," Lucy decided. The King produced a ball of magic between his hands. It swirled and kept on increasing in size. When it was as big as an average human, say Lucy's size, he sent it spinning to Minerva. In a last attempt, she tried a quick spell.

"_Niel Wielg Mion_  
_Derse Elcantaeus  
_Yagdo Rigora!"

A beam of light destroyed the arena. Takumi was shielding Lucy by standing up in front of her. When the light turned back to normal, Lucy looked around, "Where's Erza?"

"I don't know," Takumi was rigid, expecting something bad to come up. "But let's finish _her_ off first."

Minerva cowered slowly.

"Mustache Man, " Lucy called to attention. "Fast forward for me please."

She promptly lightened her gold keys with magic and started throwing them at Minerva. Before they reached her and impaled themselves into her skin, they glowed and attacked with their own magic.

_Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, Virgo, Sagittarius, Leo, Gemini, Scorpio, Aries, Capricorn!_

Each of them attacked with one of their own spells, and Takumi finished off with a signature move. When they'd finished, Minerva was crying but Lucy ignored that, recollected her keys and dismissed the King. When she did, Erza landed on the ground. She requipped back to her ordinary clothes and snarled angrily, "That bitch sent me up to space so I couldn't reflect her attack."

"And with that, Fairy Tail wins!" Mato and Chapati shouted.

"That must mean Laxus beat Sting," Erza observed thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Lucy had a very different reaction.

"We won! We won! We won!" she exclaimed. "We won, Kumi!" Lucy shouted gleefully. She hugged the dark haired boy tightly and grinned, "No way! Awesome! I can't believe it! It's _unbelievable_!" Her eyes shined.

Takumi returned her smile. He replied, leaning down, face close to Lucy's, "_Believe _it." He softly, sweetly kissed her lips.

He lifted his head and stared in her eyes before he averted his and blushed, "Um."

"You talk too much," Lucy mumbled, pulling him down again.

No one cheered louder than Mirajane that day.

***The Cat of the Chinese Zodiac is an outcast of some sort. In the real myth though, the cat drowned due to the rat.**

**SO THEY'RE TOGETHER! Finally, right? Hahahahahaha, don't kill me...**

**To be honest, there isn't much of this fic anymore left to write. I will write a couple more chaps, but it's going to be over really soon :(**

**(If any are readers of Changes, my other fic, yes, it is still continuing, it's just that I kinda focused my mind on this fic for the past 2 months...)**

**But anyway ~ Please Review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**I wrote most of this on my phone so there may be some mistakes. 200 reviews! Thank you all so much!**

**It's been more than a week. I wasn't even supposed to write this chapter, I wasn't supposed to be on the internet at all. Whatever. I hate school -_-'**

"Kumi," Lucy said. "Kumi." She waited another second, "Kumi."

"What?" Takumi groaned painfully. They were on the train back to Magnolia in their own booth, after spending another 2 weeks in Crocus. Takumi was sprawled out on the seat opposite Lucy, suffering from his powerful motion sickness.

Lucy jumped, "Can you teach me how to hold out the King for longer?" Bandages covered her waist and upper back. It turned out Lyon's Ice Eagles did slice her back, but she decided not to say anything. Takumi did react to that however, extremely angry.

_"What do you mean?" Takumi leapt up. Team Fairy Tail were in the infirmary with Porlyusica and were getting checked up. "Luce!"_

_"What was I supposed to do?" Lucy reasoned calmly. "Lie there crying about how much it hurt?" She gave him a look, "You know that's not me."_

_"Still," Takumi grumbled. "You could've told me." _

"Please, please, please, please, please!" Lucy chanted. "Please!"

"Mmm," Takumi moaned. "Shut up," he gagged.

Lucy beamed, "I'll take that as a yes!" She looked at Takumi's pitiful state, shivering and slumped against the bench, "Fine." She rummaged through her luggage and found a book (recently purchased as a gift from Takumi) and went over to her mentor. She gently lifted up his head and sat down. Lucy lay his head on her lap and quietly started reading her book. She played with a few strands of his hair but her gaze still remained fixated on her page.

Takumi smiled as he slowly fell asleep.

"Thanks Luce."

A small smile graced Lucy's features but she continued reading.

* * *

"They're back!" Natsu shouted. "Oh yeah, they're back!" he repeated. He yelled louder, "They're home! Say hello to Magnolia!"

"Natsu, you do know there's no one here, right?" Gray asked. Natsu snapped his head in Gray's direction.

"Are you trying to call me stupid?" Natsu accused, pointing a finger at the already naked Gray Fullbuster.

Gray rolled his eyes and said obviously, "Yes! Or could you not tell that?"

"I couldn't!" Natsu defended.

Gray waved his hands in a dramatic gesture, "Exactly!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

Lucy sighed and strolled ahead of the the two arguers, and rolled her her luggage along the bridge across her house. Takumi ran to catch up to her. She stopped and turned to him, "What?"

Takumi shrugged, "Well... you see," he offered a sheepish grin, "I still haven't got a place." Lucy raised a brow and Takumi hurried on, "Can I? Please?" he gave her a pleading look.

Lucy was still unsure, "Yeah, okay, if you want to. Just don't make too much noise please, I'm tired." She mumbled, "Stupid book, cliffhanger at the end of every damn chapter, stayed up 'till 3, and it ended it a cliffhanger, and the sequel is only available in Hargeon."

Takumi smirked, "Maybe you should've slept when I did."

"Sleep, yeah," Lucy returned the smirk. "That's what it was, not fainting because of the pain."

"It wasn't," Takumi defended.

Lucy giggled childishly, "Yeah, right." She yawned, "It's late."

"You still _should've_ slept when I slept," Takumi repeated. "Maybe you wouldn't be tired now."

"I couldn't sleep," Lucy said stubbornly.

Takumi smiled lightheartedly, "You could've since I was there."

"Hm, really?" she smirked.

"I'll show you at your place, if you want," Takumi offered.

"Don't push your luck."

* * *

Lucy crossed her legs on her bed, and squinted, thinking carefully. She was already in her pajamas and was thinking of sleeping plans, "Hmm. Couch or sleeping bag?" she inquired, eyeing Takumi closely.

"Bed," he said firmly, nodding.

"That wasn't in the options," Lucy told him dryly. "You can't pick it. _I'm _in the bed."

"Whoever said you needed to get out?" Takumi was grinning slyly. "You can stay there, if you want."

"Fine!" Lucy shouted exasperated, "You can have the bed!" She was blushing though, so Takumi knew she was affected. He laughed and ruffled her hair.

"It's okay, Luce, I'm on the couch."

"Make up your mind," Lucy grumbled, slipping under her bedsheets. Takumi laughed again, louder, and Lucy blushed, again, but hid her face under the covers. "It's so cold," she commented, shivering a bit.

"Really?" Takumi raised a brow, "I don't think so." He was wearing a Tshirt and shorts, while Lucy was clothed in her long-sleeved pajamas and pants.

Lucy yawned, tired, "Yup. Shut up now, I'm tired." She waited. "And switch off the lights," she ordered, her voice still complaining.

"Yes ma'am," Takumi grinned.

"Shut up," Lucy closed her eyes and snuggled closer to her toy bunny. She hugged her bunny tighter and fell out of conscious.

* * *

Takumi woke up, sitting up immediately. He noticed the darkness of the room and sighed. His eye caught on Lucy's shivering form. Takumi's eyebrows raised, _Was she really that cold? _

Lucy curled up and grasped the bunny again, almost desperately.

Takumi's eyes softened, _She's going to kill me. _He reconsidered, _Better than her killing herself from hypothermia._

He slid in next to her, and was surprised when she turned and grabbed onto him.

Takumi blinked.

_She's so cold._

He squeezed her tighter.

* * *

Lucy blinked slowly, consuming the time she needed to understand the situation. She was warm, and someone's chin was on her head, _It's heavy... _She realised that a pair of arms encircled her waist. She shivered and the arms embraced her tighter. She smiled and closed her eyes again.

"Lucy's sleeping with a weird smile on her face," a hushed voice was heard, "Fufufu."

Lucy's head snapped up, "Happy?" She growled, "That little cat."

"I'm an Exceed, stupid Lucy," Happy was giggling.

"Hi," Natsu waved, "We're here."

Lucy attempted to get up but fell back down due to Takumi hugging her too hard. Happy and Natsu immediately burst out laughing.

"Natsu, Happy, be quiet!"

"Hey don't forget about us," Gray called out. He and Erza waved. Erza was reading one of her books while, he was looking at Lucy's keys, "What? How many keys have you gotten in 7 years?" He counted, "9? Oh, wait, 12? 22? Wait, how many did you have before?"

Lucy shrieked, "Get out!"

"That's not fair," Natsu pouted, "Takumi gets to stay. In your bed too, and we can't even stay on your floor." Gray and Erza chuckled behind their hands, misinterpreting Natsu's sentence.

"You're going a bit fast, aren't you?" Erza assumed. "You two only had your first kiss a couple weeks ago." She had a glint in her eye, "Or did it start a long time ago?"

Lucy shook her head, flushing, "Nope."

Takumi groaned, "Luce?" He looked up and realised they were all staring at him. With wide eyes, he released Lucy from his grip. "Wait, I have an excu-reason, I have a reason. You were cold and I didn't want you to freeze. You were shivering and everything and"-

"It's fine," the blonde pecked his cheek. "Anyway, apparently, I now have to pay rent for 5 people. And a cat." She grumbled incoherently about her annoyance at the intruders.

"Didn't you hear, Lucy?" Happy said, laughing into his paws. "I'm an Exceed!"

"Happy," Lucy's eyes narrowed, "I happen to have a contract with a spirit that specialises in cooking Flying Fish. I could get Volans to force feed you." Lucy threatened. Happy quietened. Lucy stood up, whimpering as the cold air bit her skin, "I'm going for a shower." She turned to Gray, "And if I stay there for an hour, still _don't _come in, I'm sure I won't drown."

Gray shrugged, "There was always a possibility." Takumi looked confused. He turned to Natsu who shrugged and Happy who laughed. Finally, he turned to Erza but she was busy reading her new book.

Lucy shot back, "Then get Erza to come in!"

Gray sighed as the bathroom door closed, "She has a point."

Finally it registered. Takumi's jaw dropped, "Wait, you've seen her naked?"

Gray smirked.

* * *

"Well, we're going to the guild now," Erza put down the book. "Tell Lucy goodbye."

Happy and Natsu jumped out the window.

Gray stared interested at Lucy's bathroom door, "She sure has been there for a long time. I think I'll just go che"-

"I HAVEN'T DROWNED!" Lucy screamed from inside the door. "I'm just... stuck. Leave already!"

"She got stuck. In her bathroom," Gray snickered. "Nice job Lucy!"

"Go away, Gray!" she shouted. Gray shook his head and walked out the door, laughing boisterously.

"And take your clothes," she added, Gray rushing in at last moment to pick them up.

Gray wondered, "How did she eve"-

"Leave!" He left.

"Luce, are you okay?" Takumi said near the door. "Are you actually stuck?"

"Could you get me clothes?" She asked tentatively. "I was so mad at Happy I forgot to take some." She laughed, embarrassed, "Well, yeah. Maybe I shouldn't."

Takumi opened her wardrobe and rummaged through it. He took a shirt and jeans and handed them to her.

"Hey, isn't this the shirt you got me couple days ago?"

Takumi blushed, leaning against the wall, "Yeah."

She came out from the bathroom dressed in a jeans and a white shirt with a silver heart on it. "Thank gosh they left eventually," Lucy said. She collapsed back on her bed, "I'm going back to sleep."

Takumi was serious, "We could always trai"-

Lucy groaned. "Not today please," Lucy requested. "I'm not feeling it."

Takumi continued anyway, "Or do bonding training." Lucy leapt up and Takumi eyed her curiously,"Still with our Spirits."

"Damn," Lucy cursed.

"What else were you thinking, Luce?" Takumi grinned slyly. Lucy's face changed colour to red. She stammered furiously,

"Shut up Kumi, you idiot," she stuttered. Takumi smirked. "You idiot, shut up!"

"I haven't said anything."

"Shut up!"

* * *

"Your newer spirits don't trust you very much, because you tend to rely on the others," Takumi informed the blonde. "They need to, just in case your other spirits get hurt and have to heal in the Spirit World. So call out all of them."

"All 8?"

"Yup," Takumi replied. Lucy pulled out her keyring and Takumi put out a hand to stop her, "Wait until we get to the guild."

"We're practising in Fairy Tail?" she asked, disbelieving. He shook his head.

"I just need to get something."

"It's under construction, you know." That was true. A new Fairy Tail guild was being built, the work had started when Takumi and Lucy spent their last week in Crocus. Everyone that was in the last Team Fairy Tail was allowed to take a break and not join in to help. Takumi took advantage of that fact, making Lucy stay with him at Crocus for an extra 2 weeks.

"I know," he walked out the door.

~At the Guild~

Takumi walked in, spoke in hushed whispers with Mirajane while Lucy sat with Levy.

Lucy looked over at the dark-hair male talking animatedly to the white-haired barmaid. She rolled her eyes, "He looks so excited. I have no idea why." She huffed, "I want to know why."

Levy shook her head in amusement, "Maybe he's taking you out? Don't worry too much, I'm sure he'll surprise you."

"He's not, we're training and I've spent every day with him for 7 years, he can't surprise me anymore."

"Who knows?" Levy said wisely, "He just might."

Lucy shrugged, getting up at the sight of Takumi coming closer, "Ah well, see you later Levy!"

"If I haven't fallen down with the amount of logs I have to carry," the young bookworm muttered darkly, standing up and making her way to Erza. "Bye."

Lucy followed Takumi to the entrance of the guild before the male stopped. He gestured for her to come closer, "I've got the perfect place."

"Where?" Lucy asked. Takumi produced a blue blindfold.

"It's a secret," he winked. "I can't tell you." He put the blindfold on her. "I might someday but for now," He gently took her hand, "come on."

He guided her out of the guild, being cautious. He dodged SE carts, trees and the odd pedestrian, most of who guessed what was going on and wished Takumi luck.

"Are we there yet?"

Takumi sighed, "Almost."

* * *

"We're here!" Takumi announced, removed the blindfold and pocketed it.

Lucy looked around, astonished. It was in a forest clearing, with a clear sparkling lake running through it. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She stared, wide eyed, at Takumi.

"Is that good?" he inquired cheekily. She nodded and shrieked,

"It's awesome!"

He grinned, "Good. Now call out your spirits."

She stared shocked at his quick personality change but nonetheless pulled out her key ring and sifted through it. She took her 7, "Open! Gates of the Queen, Hunter, Pegasus, Hero, Lesser Water Serpent, Water Serpent, Prince and Serpent! Cassiopeia, Orion, Pegasus, Hercules, Hydrus, Hydra, Perseus and Serpens!"

A circle glowed around Lucy and then the 8 spirits appeared.

Cassiopeia was the Queen, married to the Celestial Spirit King. Her magic was requip magic, but of a special kind that she could use space, therefore she appeared smaller than her husband. Cassiopeia had a Royal look, dressed in a royal red dress with ruffled pink edges. She had raven hair, that contrasted with her dress, and she nodded at Takumi and Lucy, addressing them.

Orion was a hunter, muscular, with mossy green hair and piercing emerald green eyes. He wore brown clothes, clothes that camouflaged well with trees. In his hand, he held a spear, with vines swirling around the handle. Lucy's view on Orion was that he was a fun guy, knowing how to restrict himself from blowing things up.

Pegasus was, as the name suggests, a pegasus. He had a black coat with gorgeous black wings that spread out when he was on the ground. He nickered as Lucy stroked his nose.

Hercules was huge, Lucy immediately thought of Elfman the first time she saw him. He was a stoic man who rarely said anything, except to ask a question or murmur out his magic's intonation. Lucy didn't really think much of Hercules, but then again, she hardly knew him.

Hydrus was a small child, looking 13-14 years old. Hydrus was wearing a small white dress, accessorising with many bracelets. She had greenish black hair and green eyes, and resembled her older sister, Hydra. Hydrus looked up to Aquarius as a role model, and due to that, the girl looked around when she fully materialized, in order to find Aquarius. She was disappointed when she couldn't find her.

Hydra appeared as well, and scolded Hydrus about not admiring that _fish_.

Perseus was a tall, lanky man with a crown. He may've been the prince, but when Lucy called him out, she felt the opposite. Perseus wasn't like a prince, not in any way. The prince knew how to party. Causing trouble everywhere he went, Lucy restricted his access to the outside, just because the first time he destroyed a village, it had costed her a lot of money, way into the millions.

Serpens was a polite teenage boy, with cerulean spiky hair and light red eyes. He had a crush on Hydra, but kept it a secret. The only people who knew this were Scorpio, Takumi and Lucy. He made them promise to never tell, and when they offered to give him advice, he politely declined.

"Hey guys," Lucy cheerfully said. "Let's have fun!"

"It's our day out already, huh?" Perseus said, nodding. He lay down on a large rock, "Interesting." He was planning something.

"Don't destroy this place please," Lucy requested. "I don't even know where we are."

"That would've been Takumi's doing, yes?" Cassiopeia raised a brow at both of them. Lucy nodded.

Orion smirked, "Takumi has a habit of kidnapping people, don't you?" Takumi's jaw dropped, not only at the accusation, but at the straightforwardness. Orion went on, "If I'm not mistaken, that's how he got you to stay in the Celestial Spirit World."

"Oh my god, yes!" Lucy and Orion hi-fived. She burst out laughing.

Takumi frowned and huffed, "Fine then." He said under his breath, "I thought girls liked that kind of thing."

"Don't worry, Takumi, it's not until you've kidnapped 3 times that you'll be an official kidnapper," Lucy soothed.

Orion interrupted, "Wait, isn't that serial killers?"

"Oh yeah!" Lucy giggled. "Too bad, Kumi."

Takumi rolled his eyes, "Anyway, here's the main spot we'll be staying at. We can fish, hunt, or just talk. I don't know, do something." He shrugged, "I'm going hunting."

"Me too," Orion volunteered. Pegasus reared and Hercules nodded.

"See ya Luce," Takumi waved before disappearing into the trees.

* * *

"Nothing's biting," Perseus said boredly, resting his head on a palm. He was fishing with Serpens and Hydrus, using their made fishing rods. They were lying on rocks overhanging the lake. "I'm bored."

Serpens stood up, "Then lets make some fun!" He took off his shirt and dived into the lake. "Come on!" he gestured to Hydra and Hydrus. "But come in slowly, it's cold," he shivered slightly. Lucy laughed on the rug next to Cassiopeia.

"Lucy-sama!" Hydrus shouted. She swirled in the water and molded it with her magic. She threw it at Serpens who spluttered and grinned.

Hydra smiled and slowly slipped into the water, Lucy gaping.

"You're still wearing that dress!"

"It's fine," Hydra lifted her hand and puddles of water pushed Serpens over. "I win." Seconds later she fell down, shrieking, as Serpens yanked her ankle from underwater. He emerged, beaming heavily, only to get pushed down again.

"I feel ignored," Hydrus sweatdropped.

"Caught anything?" Cassiopeia asked her son.

"Nah," he shook his head. Perseus sighed and zapped a tree with his magic. Lucy walked over to the spoilt prince and sat next to him.

And then she shoved him into the water.

"Have fun!" she called out until Perseus grabbed onto her foot and took her on the fall as well. They emerged, soaked, grinning happily. And then Lucy realised, "Ooh, crap. Kumi bought this shirt."

Hydra clapped, "Way to win a guy's heart. Ruining their gift." She was dunked again by Serpens.

Lucy crawled to the bank, "I'm horrible."

Cassiopeia sat next to her, "I'm sure Takumi-kun won't mind." She said in a motherly tone, "He cares for you too much."

Lucy flushed, "Thanks."

"Come back in!" Perseus shouted, flailing water at Hydrus.

She declined, "Nah, don't want to get this shirt any wetter than it already is."

Cassiopeia looked at Lucy fondly, "Go. Takumi-kun won't care. We'll cover for you if he does."

"It's okay," Lucy shook her head and stood in the water again. "You guys don't have to do that. Thanks anyway."

* * *

"Hey," Takumi said when he walked back to the rest of them. He sat down and watched Lucy splash her spirits, and getting dunked. Lucy emerged from the water and laughed, skimming some at Hydrus.

"Hey!" Lucy ran up to Takumi and grinned, "How'd you guys do?"

"Not well," Orion answered, "There was nothing at all."

Lucy cracked a smile, "Nothing a hunter could catch."

"Watch it," Orion complained. "There _was_ nothing."

"Are you done playing?" Takumi asked Lucy.

"Yup," she caught him eyeing her shirt, "Oh yeah, it's wet, I'm sorry but"- Takumi cut her off.

"Don't worry about it."

He threw his hoodie at her. "Just don't freeze to death."

She beamed and put on the hoodie, "Thanks." Cassiopeia smiled knowingly at the two.

"No problem."

Lucy sat next to the black haired male, wearing the jumper and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Do you always bring this hoodie everywhere you go?"

"Yes," Takumi lay down.

"Why?"

Takumi smirked, "Just in case you need it."

Lucy blushed, "Kumi!"

* * *

"That was so cool," Lucy 's eyes shined. "Where was it?"

Takumi's eyebrows rose, "You mean, you don't remember?" Lucy shook her head confused.

"Am I supposed to?"

"Well, it was 7 years ago," Takumi was disappointed. "Never mind, of course you wouldn't." He held Lucy's hand, "Let's go to the guild."

Lucy pouted, puzzled. She stood, rooted to her spot, "Wait." Realization dawned. "We met there, didn't we? Not exactly, but around there. Oh my god, Kumi!"

Takumi grinned proudly, "I knew you'd realise sooner or later." He frowned, "I was betting on later."

Lucy ignored the comment and bounded up to the mage, "Thanks!" She smiled cheerfully, "Really."

Takumi turned around to hide his flush, "Let's get to to the guild."

* * *

"Hey Takumi, Lu-chan!" Levy greeted. "And I haven't fallen down yet, hooray!" She collapsed into a seat, "Think I might have a juice though."

"Hey, Levy-chan," Lucy greeted. "I've got an awesome book, that you've just _got _to read and"-

Erza ran out the door, slamming it shut in the process.

"Huh?" Takumi questioned, "What happened?"

"Takumi and Lucy," Makarov said gravely, "Come to my** (newly made)** office. There is something I need to tell you."

Lucy and Takumi rushed up the stairs, curious about what made Erza bolt like that.

"Sit down," Master instructed gently. "And then I will inform you."

"What is it?" Lucy sat.

"The Magic Council has asked me to get you two to perform an SS class mission," he told them.

"SS class?" Takumi grinned, "Easy."

"That may not be so," Makarov's eyes softened, and he looked guilty.

"Why?"

"The mission is to capture Jellal Fernandes."


	24. Chapter 24

**Haha, it seems everyone hated me for leaving the previous chapter like that. Trololololololololololololololololololol~ But here's the next chapter! SO happy faces! Unless you read yesterday's chapter for Fairy Tail, then you can be sad. WHUT HAPPENED? Feel free to PM me or review and discuss about this, I WANT TO AVENGE HIM.**

"I refuse," Lucy said bluntly, after the shock had worn off. Takumi gave her a look.

"It's an SS class job, we get paid for this," he told her, not quite understanding why she was against it.

"I'm not doing it," she insisted. "Jellal's... well..." She abandoned the sentence, "Get Natsu or Gray to do it. Or Laxus. Or Er-no."

"Natsu and Gray harbor attachments to him because of the Oracion Seis mission. Laxus doesn't even care and Erza, well you know. I've already told her though. That was her reaction. They all have a connection with him, or they don't," Master said. "While you do, and Takumi doesn't. Anyway, the Magic Council personally asked for you two. I told Erza out of choice." Makarov said gravely, "You saw her reaction."

"I don't care," Lucy said. "I'm not. I can't do that."

"I think you misunderstand," Makarov's voice was firm. "They're are not giving you a choice."

Takumi did a double take, "What?"

"You either attempt it or," Makarov paused, "You're out of the guild."

Lucy reacted immediately. "They can't do that," she jumped up and snarled fiercely. "They won't."

Takumi calmed her down and informed her, "They can, and they will. They might even go to the extent of breaking Fairy Tail up."

"We could fail it purposely," she said hopefully, "Or actually capture him and hide him."

"Do what you want, child," Makarov said wisely, "But be warned, if you do something they do not like. Your marks will be removed. In fact, they are keen to let you guys go. Apparently, you were their best dependent mages."

Takumi scoffed, "We were they're toys. Why are you so against it anyway?" he turned to Lucy and his eyes widened, "Did he used to be in a relationship with you, by any ch"-

"No!" she shouted. "I'll tell you later."

"You don't have to decide immediately," Master told them, "I'll give you until tomorrow."

Lucy stood up, dragged her chair back and walked out the office door, only to be met with silence. The members were all mentally drawing conclusions that what Erza ran out for was what Lucy and Takumi were called in for.

"What happened?" Mirajane asked kindly, reacting to Lucy's raging face. "Do you want a milkshake?"

"No thanks Mira," she gritted her teeth, "Where did Erza go?"

"I don't know," Mira stepped back, shocked at her tone. So were the other members, Levy, Gray, Natsu and Happy especially.

Lucy stormed out of the guild, slamming the door behind her. Takumi jumped down the stairs and ran after her, shouting at Mira, "Sorry Mira-san! She's angry about something else, not you!" He rushed out the doors, "Luce! Wait up!"

"She sure has changed," Levy said wistfully. "Not hesitant to snap at anyone anymore, even Mira. At least she's stronger now."

Happy stared, shocked, "But what did Mira do? Why is Lucy so mean now?"

"Maybe it's for the better," Gray said quietly, "She's not mean, Happy. Something just upset her."

"Then let's cheer her up!" Happy shouted.

Natsu shook his head, "That's Takumi's job. He's the only one who can help her now. We don't even know what's going on."

* * *

"Okay, tell me what's wrong, or I _will_ accept the request," Takumi caught her at her house, sulking on the bed. "I have no idea what he means to you, so you better tell me now," He said firmly. Lucy sat up right away and faced him,

"He's... an important person to Erza, to all of us," she started. "He was...slave, in the Tower of Heaven with Erza. And we went to fight him, well more Erza and Natsu, and he was 'eaten' by Etherion. And then they revived him, a couple months later, but he lost his memory. He was possessed. But that didn't stop the Magic Council from arresting him. On Tenrou Island, it was revealed that Ultear Milkovich, daughter of Gray's mentor, was the one who possessed him. He broke out of jail a couple of months after Tenrou Island sunk."**  
**

"Complicated. I didn't even understand half the terms you used. Whatever, I get it." Takumi's eyes narrowed, "So you guys _didn't _have a romantic relationship?"

She punched him lightly, "Stop being jealous." She was smiling though, and Takumi let out a small grin.

"Who said I was jealous?" he shrugged. Lucy looked at him warningly. Takumi averted his eyes shyly and mumbled, "Okay, I was jealous."

They lay down on the bed next to each other for a couple more minutes. Takumi spoke, "So what are we going to do?"

Lucy sighed, "I have no idea. I don't want to leave Fairy Tail, but I don't want to hand Jellal in either."

Takumi leaned on his palm and turned to Lucy, "What if we took it, but failed purposely?"

Lucy mused, "That is pretty good, but... they would know, wouldn't they?"

"How?" he asked, "If we act it out well enough, they won't be able to." He stood up and walked to the kitchen, "I'm hungry, want anything?"

Lucy nodded but stood up, "I'll make it though, I don't want to clean up."

"I'm not that bad!" he protested, mocking hurt.

"That's what you say every time," she said, rummaging through the fridge.

* * *

"We're taking it," Lucy spoke to Master the next morning when they'd gotten to the guild. It was early. And no one was there except for Master Makarov, all S-Class mages, the Raijinshuu, Gajeel and Pantherlily. "Just don't tell Natsu or Gray, please."

Master laughed, "I wouldn't either way. Imagine all the destruction they would cause looking for him," he shuddered.

"Speaking of which," Takumi began, "Do you have an idea where he is?"

"Yes, yes I do," Makarov nodded. He stopped and sweatdropped comically, "Where was it again?"

Mirajane shrugged, not knowing what they were talking about.

"Hargeon," Erza said quietly, after swallowing her cake, "He's at Hargeon."

They all looked at her surprised, "Thanks," Lucy spoke. "We'll be going now." She and Takumi turned to exit the guild, steps echoing in the almost empty guild.

"Lucy." Erza said something again. "You're up to something." She smiled slightly and whispered, "Don't get caught."

* * *

"Back in the train two days after we just came back," Lucy grumbled, looking at Takumi's pitiful form. "You're no fun on trains.''

His face turned greener as the train bumped.

* * *

"I'm hungry," Lucy stopped at the train station, dragging her bag along. "Let's check into the hotel. I hope it's good, the Magic Council could do that much."

Takumi sleepily dragged a foot over another, and he stumbled along the platform, yawning, "I'm tired, so hurry up."

"You slept in the train," she pointed out, "And I wanted to go explore the city."

"Maybe I'll wake up a bit more later," Takumi replied sleepily. "Hurry up, the hotel's not far from here."

* * *

"One room," Lucy observed, dumping the bags next to the bed.

"But, hey, we're used to that," Takumi finished.

"At least there's two beds," she shrugged. "No sneaking back in this time. I'm going to take a shower, and then I'm going out. You coming?"

"Yeah," Takumi nodded, falling back into a bed. "Go shower already."

* * *

"I haven't been in Hargeon in ages!" Lucy exclaimed, strolling down the streets. She turned to Takumi, "Actually, the first time I came here, I was nearly arrested."

Takumi rolled his eyes, "Sure you were. I can't believe that."

"It's true," she insisted. "It was Natsu's fault, actually," she shrugged.

"I can believe _that_," he nodded.

"But I destroyed the dock," she finished, boasting. "Amazing, right?" She opened the door to a store.

"Aquarius, right?" he mimicked, smirking, following Lucy into a bookshop.

She confirmed, "Obviously, only she would cause that much damage and then leave me alone to run off on my own." The conversation was cut short as they roamed through the aisles of bookcases, browsing through. A book caught Lucy's eye, bright red with gold lettering, "Ooh!" She rushed toward it and gushed, "Takumi, this is the book, the book, the sequel to the book! Omigod!"

She took it off the shelf and literally sprinted up to the cashier, slapping down 1 500 jewels, "Thanks, keep the change!" she squealed happily, skipping out.

Takumi shook his head and followed her out, apologizing to the owner of the store. He exited to find Lucy a long way away from him. Lucy pointed at a restaurant across the road, "That's where Natsu, Happy and I had lunch! Come on, let's go there for dinner!"

Takumi stared at the sign uncertainly, "Are you sure you want to eat here? It's not anything like what you usually eat."

"It's fine, hurry up!" She waved from the entrance. Lucy smiled at a waitress, "Table for two please."

"Sure!" The waitress gestured, "Pick any one you'd like."

"Thanks," Lucy grinned, sitting at the nearest one, "Kumi, it's so nostalgic! This is the same spot we sat, actually!"

Takumi raised a brow, "Cool."

She frowned, "You don't sound very excited."

"Oh, trust me, I am," he said boredly. At Lucy's hurt look, he covered, "Just joking," he grinned, "I'm just hungry, that's all." He waved over a waiter, "May we please order now?"

* * *

Lucy speared the last of her spaghetti and chewed. She swallowed and whispered, "Cloaks, at 6:00, don't look now, but one accidentally took it off before putting it back on. Blue hair. Jellal."

Takumi cast a casual glance over his shoulder, "There's 3. Might be someone else," he spoke in a hushed tone.

"We tail them then," she mumbled. "We'll see if it's him."

"I'm going to pay, keep an eye on them," he stood up. Lucy's face was alarmed.

"They've paid, and now they're leaving. I'll follow them, meet you outside," she stood up also.

Takumi ordered her, "Get Castle." He went to talk to the waitress.

"Open, the gate of the Canis Major, Castle," she muttered, walking out of the restaurant, the dog appearing by her side. "Hey Castle, we're following them," she whispered gesturing at the three. At once, the three broke out into a sprint. Lucy, not wanting to act suspicious, walked leisurely behind them, struggling to keep up. They were slowly disappearing out of sight. Lucy, now desperate, spotted a ladder leaning against a shop. Castle walked next to her, keeping up an energetic walk but his ears were pricked. Lucy

_I hate doing this_, she groaned inwardly, quickly climbing up the ladder, Castle staying down below. She began running after the three figures, them barely in her sight anymore. She used Spirit boost, but to her surprise they split up, running into different streets. The two went to the opposite side, too far away for her to follow.

_I can only follow the one person, _she cursed, _I hope this is Jellal. Wait, who are the other two anyway?_

She signalled to Castle on the ground to follow the other two. The dog set off after the two, footsteps padding on the empty concrete, almost silently.

Lucy leapt off the roof smoothly and sneakily, running into the dark alley the cloak ran into.

"Why are you following me?"

Lucy quickly backstepped and tried walking away. A hand snaked out from the alley, yanking her back in. The man's hood fell off, revealing blue hair and a red tattoo. It was the face of the infamous Jellal Fernandes, eyes narrowed in anger. He pinned Lucy to the wall, gripped her wrists and spoke venomously into her ear,

"Speak. Why are you following me?"


	25. Chapter 25

"Jellal Fernandes, you are a criminal," Lucy spoke solemnly, "Unhand me now, or I will fight. And I _do _know how."

"You're from the council," Jellal realised. "How did they find me?"

"I have ways when I need money," she shrugged, or attempted to do so. He raised a brow but didn't loosen his grip.

"It doesn't matter why you did it, you did," he snarled in her ear, "How did you find me?"

"Release me first," Lucy bargained. "I will fight, don't think I can't just because I'm a girl." She scoffed and attempted to kick him, but her attempt was in vain.

"Answer the question. How," he said with a pause that made her almost shiver in fear, "Did. They. Find. Me?"

She took a deep breath and said calmly and professionally, "Okay, that's enough, Fernandes. I don't want to fight."

"I've got your hands, and your legs," Jellal hissed. He was gripping her hands, and his magic tied her feet to the ground. " And you're a Celestial Spirit mage," her keys dropped to the ground, due to his telekinesis. "So if you can't reach your keys, you can't use 'em." Lucy hissed in annoyance. He continued, "If you can't use them, you can't 'fight' me, as you sound so confident saying." His eyebrows furrowed in suspicion, "For one of the council, you seem to forget I know a lot about a lot of magics."

Lucy smirked and imitated him, "For one specialising in many magics, you seem to forget that others can. I'm not _only _a holder-type mage." Jellal was silent, allowing Lucy to continue, "You are familiar with Dragon Slayers, right? I improved it."

"What are Dragon Slayers?" he lied. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Don't kid me, I know you were beaten horribly by Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail," Lucy stated, still trying to break her legs free from the restraints. Jellal stopped and his eyes darkened.

"How do you know about that? The council was never informed," Jellal tightened his hold on her wrist. "Only a few know that."

"I never said I was from the council," she pointed out.

"Who are you?" he asked tersely, "You never answered."

"Back of my right hand." Jellal's eyebrow bunched together as he recognised the guild symbol.

"Fairy...Tail?" he said. "What are you doing, capturing me?" He followed up with, "Didn't Erza tell you about me?" Lucy didn't miss the hurt tone in his voice. She smirked and inwardly cursed herself for following him.

_Explaining things is such a pain._

"Don't you remember me, Jellal?" Lucy twisted her head around, "Lucy Heartfilia. I beat Vidaldus, the creepy long haired heavy metal dude. Release me."

"What happened to Erza?" Jellal asked, ignoring her command. "Is she here?"

"She has no knowledge of us being here," Lucy lied. Before Jellal could ask, she went on, "Us being my partner and me."

"Natsu's here?" he questioned, almost eagerly. Lucy shook her head,

"I've got a new partner now."

As soon as that was said, a mage walked into the alley and punched Jellal in the gut. "The name's Takumi," he growled, "And I would appreciate it if you release my partner from your grip."

"Show me your mark first," Jellal instructed after coughing a fit. Takumi yanked down the collar of his shirt roughly, showing the mark on his collarbone.

"Happy?" he demanded unpleasantly. Jellal, satisfied, took off Lucy's restrains and pushed her in the direction of Takumi gently.

"Could you get any more envious?" Lucy shook her head at Takumi.

Takumi frowned and grumbled, "He was holding your hand."

"_He _was gripping my wrist," she countered.

"It's the same thing," Takumi crossed his arms and looked away.

Jellal coughed purposely, regaining their attention. "Are you guys actually going to capture me, because I would go with you two gladly. However, I do have a feeling that you two aren't serious, so could you please clear the confusion?"

"We're not going to," Takumi told him bluntly. Jellal nodded and turned around to leave. He had made it out of the alleyway until Lucy said something else.

"Before you go off again, just hear us out, okay?" Lucy pleaded, "We're not here to capture you, we have to attempt it or we're out of Fairy Tail. There are lacrima-all soundless-all around here, and if they see us just let you go, we could get a worse sentence."

"So you want me to fight you," he resolved, shaking his head. "I can do that, but it's not a very good ide"-

"Thanks!" Lucy interrupted.

"What is your caster magic anyway?" he asked, interested. "An improvement of Dragon Slaying magic?"

"I wouldn't call it an improvement..." Takumi muttered. "It's Spirit Dragon"-

-"Slayer Slayer's Roar!" Lucy shouted, Spirit flowing from her mouth. Jellal, in shock, couldn't dodge the attack and got hit, full force. Lucy wiped her mouth, "Dragon Slayer Slaying magic. Magic that kills Dragon Slayers. He taught it to me," she pointed to Takumi cheerfully.

The smoke disappeared and Jellal stood up, "I'll just land a few attacks and teleport away," he mumbled. He apologized to Lucy, "I hope this doesn't hurt." He swiped his hands, and several light arrows appeared, flashing toward the duo, slicing at their skin.

Takumi fists clenched in fake anger, "Spirit Dragon Slayer's Explosion!" A pulsing circle appeared over Jellal's head and exploded, but he jumped back just in time.

Jellal's glinted in annoyance, and the floor Takumi and Lucy were standing on collapsed. Lucy screamed in surprise but quickly called out Virgo. The hole restored into the normal flat ground.

"Okay, let's end this," Jellal sighed. "Bind Snake."

A red snake tattoo crawled up Lucy's forearm and wound itself around her torso. She screamed in pain as it tightened and squeezed. She attempted to grab a key, but the snake around her shoulder restricted the movement. Next to her, Takumi was struggling to, but instead of pain, his face showed one of frustration.

"Relax and it'll be fine. It'll disappear a few minutes after I leave, " Jellal told them, "I'll be going now anyway."

Lucy fell to her feet in a dramatic way to show her pain. She glared at him but said, "Come back to Fairy Tail soon. Erza won't admit it but she misses you. And Natsu too."

Jellal smiled before teleporting away.

* * *

"Okay, he said a few minutes, but it's been ten," Takumi winced. "Is he doing this purposely or something?"

Lucy chuckled but then whimpered, "I don't think he has control of it after he leaves." Lucy was silent. Takumi gave her a questioning glance.

"Luce?"

"Do you think he'll come back?" she blurted out hurriedly. She took a breath, "To Fairy Tail, I mean."

Takumi sighed and shrugged-at least he attempted to,"I don't know. Maybe?" They lay in silence, except for the occasional groan.

Takumi must've laid there for a couple more minutes until he noticed something, "Hey, my tattoo's gone!" He helped Lucy up and grinned. Lucy nodded. He exclaimed, "So we're going back home? And by home, I mean your apartment"-

She quickly clasped her hand over his mouth. Lucy whispered, "The lacrima are still playing. Don't look at them now, don't smile. Look disappointed at the defeat." Takumi nodded and Lucy immediately put on a stricken look, close to tears.

She mouthed random sounds with fake tears at the corner of her eyes at Takumi who hugged her tight with a look of disappointment. Lucy almost squealed in shock.

She mumbled into his shoulder, "Sure, just take advantage of the situation."

He scoffed at her accusation, "I wasn't." She rolled her eyes and he continued, "But now I might just do that." He stole a chaste kiss from her, smirking when she blushed.

"Stop grinning," she grumbled. "It's going to ruin everything."

"Guess I'll have to keep kissing you to stop then," he leaned down. Lucy rolled her eyes and returned the kiss but her eyes wandered.

"The lacrima," she mumbled, "It's filming everything. Mmf!" she was interrupted when Takumi's mouth made contact again.

"Don't worry about that," he murmured, flattening down the hair that stuck up due to sweat. "Why should we care about it?"

"But the council," Lucy's protest died off on her tongue.

"Oh?" Takumi smirked.

"Screw them," she whispered, pulling the dark-haired mage closer.

* * *

"I will schedule a meeting for you," a frog-like receptionist said stiffly, picking up a phone. After a few words, he put it down and spoke to them. "Gran Doma has insisted for a group meeting, you two with the entire council, and then one-on-one meetings, to discuss what to do next."

Lucy and Takumi nodded, "Sure."

There was a new receptionist, and wasn't as close to Takumi as the previous one, unfortunately, so Takumi could not charm him to provide them with books to make thee time go by.

"Lucy Heartfilia," a messenger approached them, "You're up."

* * *

She was flushing, angry and embarrassed. She stormed towards the hotel, fuming, Takumi behind her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She screamed. "I have never been as horrified ever before! They accused us of unprofessional and inappropriate during a council meeting."

Takumi looked down guiltily, "Sorry, Luce." He unlocked the hotel door, and Lucy ran in, jumping on the bed. She lay down, facing Takumi in the other bed.

"Why the hell would you be?" she shouted. "It's their bloody fault they watched us, for god's sake!" She reddened, "I haven't been that embarrassed in my life. It's all their fault!"

"If it's their fault, then you shouldn't stress over it," Takumi said. He yawned and stood up, "I'm going to shower."

"What did they say to you?" Lucy asked, forgetting about her embarrassment. "Anything like that?"

"Nah," Takumi shrugged, turning away from her. He walked into the bathroom and clenched his fists.

_Flashback_

_"Takumi," Gran Doma spoke, "Your work today was well done, we had not expected even your strength capable of landing a hit, let alone subduing Jellal Fernandes, no offence intended."_

_"None taken."_

_"However," the Michello's eyes narrowed, "Your 'performance' after was greatly unappreciated." Takumi sighed, expecting this. The third chairman continued, "We have classed this inappropriate. Due to your outstanding work on Jellal Fernandes, we will allow this to pass."_

_Takumi nodded._

_"But do not misunderstand." Org snapped, slamming a rule book down with a bang, "We will not tolerate this behaviour in the future, it must not happen again." __He snapped to attention. __"In fact, if it does, we might have to expel you and Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail."Takumi rolled his eyes. "Disband Fairy Tail," Org smiled cruelly, "We might disband your 'partnership'."_

_This time, Takumi's eyes widened, shocked. Not listening at anything else, he decided not to tell Lucy._

_Flashback_ _End_

Takumi snarled, he never did like Org. That old man was always coming up with ways to ruin others' happiness.

"Takumi!" Lucy called out, "Are you okay? You've been in there for 10 minutes and I haven't even heard the shower start!"

"Jeez, Luce, calm down," he laughed. "I won't get hurt."

Lucy laughed along with him and mocked, "Are you sure you won't drown in the shower?" He remembered that line.

"I'm sure," Takumi smiled, amused. "But you can come in and check if you want." He smirked at the blush that he knew appeared on her face, even without looking.

"Shut up," Lucy snapped, and footsteps indicated she had left.

He burst out laughing.

* * *

"Whoa, Kumi, you didn't have to run here," Lucy beamed and sat down on her bed.

_Back in my apartment again, _she grinned, _finally._ Takumi, however, had taken hostage of her bed, sprawling out his limbs. She shouted, "Hey! That's my bed!"

"First come, first served," he grinned and lay on his back.

"Unless it belongs to someone else!" She protested. "Anyway," put a book down angrily, "Did you know this book is actually in a trilogy?"

Takumi gasped as if it were the biggest crime in the world. He was faking it to her expense, but she didn't understand. He was still tired, and yawned immediately after.

"I know!" she shook her head, "They should really specify that on the covers."

"I don't know, Luce," he shrugged.

She exclaimed, "Let's go to the guild!" she justified her idea, "I mean, Erza just _has _to know we failed it."

"Don't tell her we faked it," Takumi instructed, 'Chances are, a dragon slayer might hear it." He shuddered, "You don't want Natsu hearing that."

Lucy chuckled, "Haha, that would be utter chaos. Fine, for the sake of Magnolia."

"Good choice," his lips lifted into a smile. "Let's go!" He jumped up. Lucy was still sitting down. Takumi frowned, "Didn't you want to go?"

"Yeah," she smiled wistfully. And then she jumped up and ran out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

"What?" he was confused.

"Race you!" she shouted, sprinting down Magnolia's streets.

**1 chapter left. Probably. I don't know. I DON'T WANT THIS TO EEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNDDDDDDD~~~**

**Please review if enjoyed!**


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